Influence of the residual stresses and strains generated by theat treatments on th hydrogen embrittlement of a nuclear reactor pressure vessel

  1. Toribio, J. 2
  2. Vergara, D. 2
  3. Lorenzo, M. 3
  4. Martin, J.J. 1
  1. 1 Dept. of Materials Eng, Univ. of Salamanca
  2. 2 Dept. of Materials Engineering, University of Salamanca
  3. 3 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Salamanca
Revista:
The Proceedings of the International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE)

ISSN: 2424-2934

Año de publicación: 2011

Volumen: 2011.19

Número: 19

Páginas: 44017

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1299/JSMEICONE.2011.19._ICONE1944_10 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: The Proceedings of the International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE)

Resumen

The wall of a nuclear reactor pressure vessel can undergo a reduction of its mechanical properties due to the presence of hydrogen, a process known as hydrogen embrittlement (HE). A numerical model of hydrogen diffusion assisted by stress and strain was used in this paper to evaluate the HE process in the wall of a real nuclear reactor pressure vessel, formed by a bi-material (stainless steel and low carbon steel). In this sense, a quantitative analysis was carried out of the influence of tempering heat treatments conditions applied to these two steels on hydrogen concentration accumulated in the nuclear reactor vessel during its operation time. To this end, the most relevant parameters of these heat treatments were considered: (i) tempering temperature and (ii) tempering time.