Investigation of Cracked Lithium Hydride Reactor Vessels

Visual examination of lithium hydride reactor vessels revealed cracks that were adjacent to welds, most of which were circumferentially located in the bottom portion of the vessels. Sections were cut from the vessels containing these cracks and examined by use of the metallograph, scanning electron microscope, and microprobe to determine the cause of cracking. Most of the cracks originated on the outer surface just outside the weld fusion line in the base material and propagated along grain boundaries. Crack depths of those examined sections ranged from {approximately}300 to 500 {micro}m. Other cracks were reported to have reached a maximum depth of 1/8 in. The primary cause of cracking was the creation of high tensile stresses associated with the differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion between the filler metal and the base metal during operation of the vessel in a thermally cyclic environment. This failure mechanism could be described as creep-type fatigue, whereby crack propagation may have been aided by the presence of brittle chromium carbides along the grain boundaries, which indicates a slightly sensitized microstructure.