Abstract

The behaviour of solution annealing and stress corrosion cracking in cold worked AISI316L austenitic stainless steel have been studied using XRD and slow strain rate test (SSRT) technique. Based on the good compatibility to high temperature water environment, AISI316L austenitic stainless steel is widely used for internal structural materials of light water reactors. However, recently, Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) was noticed in the stainless steels for the applications in some commercial PWR plants. In this paper, the behaviour of the SCC and Inter Granular Cracking (IGC) are discussed on the basis of solution annealing and chloride environment. The martensitic contents of cold worked AISI316L stainless steel decreased as solution annealing time increased with higher temperature. The mode of SCC was deeply related to the chloride environment. Therefore, it is considered that chloride environment plays an important role in SCC of cold worked AISI316L.

Keywords: Chloride;Solution annealing;Stress corrosion cracking; AISI316L;Austenitic stainless steels; SSRT