Effect of bwr environment on the fracture toughness of alloy X-750

Fracture toughness testing is normally performed in air on specimens provided with a transgranular pre-crack generated in air by fatigue loading. However, stress corrosion cracks in nuclear power plants are usually intergranular and in contact with reactor coolant. Fracture toughness data used in e.g., flaw tolerance analyses are generated in air with transgranular pre-cracks. Since the effects of the fracture mode of the pre-crack and the reactor coolant on the fracture toughness are not known in detail, it is important to investigate if the data used today are sufficiently conservative. Compact tension (CT) specimens of Alloy X-750 with thickness (B) 9.3 mm and width (W) 18.6 mm were tested under various conditions with the objective to investigate the possible effects of an intergranular pre-crack as well as BWR coolant on the fracture toughness. Three specimens were tested under constant stress intensity (K) in simulated BWR normal water chemistry (NWC) in order to generate an intergranular pre-crack. One specimen was removed from the autoclave and then fracture toughness tested in air at 288 oC. The other specimens remained in the autoclave in the presence of simulated BWR coolant during the fracture toughness test. For comparison, specimens with a transgranular pre-crack were tested in air at 288 oC. Neither the fracture mode, nor the BWR coolant appeared to have any adverse effects on the fracture toughness in these tests.