Materials Integrity Analysis for Application of Hyper Duplex Stainless Steels to Korean Nuclear Power Plants

Abstract

Hyper duplex stainless steels have been developed in Korea for the purpose of application to the seawater system of Korean nuclear power plants. This system supplies seawater to cooling water heat exchanger tubes, related pipes and chlorine injection system. In normal operation, seawater is supplied to heat exchanger through the exit of circulating water pump headers, and the heat exchanged sea water is extracted to the discharge pipes in circulating water system connected to the circulating water discharge lines. The high flow velocity of some part of seawater system in nuclear power plants accelerates damages of components. Therefore, high strength and high corrosion resistant steels need to be applied for this environment. Hyper duplex stainless steel (27Cr-7.0Ni-2.5Mo-3.2W-0.35N) has been newly developed in Korea and is being improved for applying to nuclear power plants. In this study, the physical & mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of newly developed materials are quantitatively evaluated in comparative to commercial stainless steels in other countries. The properties of weld & HAZ (heat affected zone) are analyzed and the best compositions are suggested. The optimum conditions in welding process are derived for ensuring the volume fraction of ferrite(α) and austenite(γ) in HAZ and controlling weld cracks. For applying these materials to the seawater heat exchanger, CCT and CPT in weldments are measured. As a result of all experiments, it was found that the newly developed hyper duplex stainless steel WREMBA has higher corrosion resistance and mechanical properties than those of super austenitic stainless steels including welded area. It is expected to be a promising material for seawater systems of Korean nuclear power plants.