In-Situ Observation for Elucidation of Stress Corrosion Cracking Mechanism in High-Temperature and High-Pressure Water

In-situ diffraction measurements were carried out on a tensile specimen of SUS304 stainless steel using a small autoclave at BL22XU at SPring-8. The temperature of circulating water in the autoclave was changed from room temperature to 561 K under ambient pressure and also under a pressure of 8.8 MPa. Tensile stress of 260 MPa was applied to the specimen at 561 K under 8.8 MPa, and a two dimensional strain distribution was obtained by calculation based on measured lattice spacings of the γ-Fe311 plane under various conditions. The interior region of the specimen showed higher strain compared with that on the surface region. After the tensile deformation in the autoclave, CT images of cross sections of the specimen were taken. Void-like images with about 50 μm in size were observed.