Irradiation Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking Susceptibility of Alloy X-750 Exposed to BWR Environments

The effect of irradiation on stress corrosion cracking susceptibility and fracture toughness of alloy X-750 has been investigated. The material has been irradiated at a target temperature of 288 ℃ in the Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory to a fluence of approximately 1.93 × 1020 n/cm2 (E >1 meV). Stress corrosion cracking crack growth rates were determined in both unirradiated and irradiated materials in normal water chemistry and hydrogen water chemistry environments. Although the effect of irradiation on tensile properties and fracture toughness was observed, there was no significant effect of irradiation observed on the propagation rate of stress corrosion cracks.