Helping materials handle extreme stress
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - 08:01
in Physics & Chemistry
Important pressurized water nuclear reactor components are being made from a nickel-base alloy that contains twice the amount of chromium as the material previously used. The new alloy, called alloy 690, performs better, with no cracking due to corrosion in the high-temperature water service environment. However, stress corrosion cracking has been observed in lab tests on highly deformed alloy 690 material. To gain insights into this behavior, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory performed high-resolution investigations of corrosion and cracking processes.