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Caustic stress corrosion cracking of NiCrMoV rotor steels—The effects of impurity segregation and variation in alloy composition

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Abstract

This paper reports a study of the effects of phosphorus, tin, and molybdenum on the caustic stress corrosion cracking susceptibility of NiCrMoV rotor steels. Constant load tests were performed on these steels in 9M NaOH at 98 ± 1 °C at a controlled potential of either -800 mVHg/Hgo or -400 mVHg/Hgo. Times to failure were measured. The results show that at a potential of -400 mVHg/Hgo the segregation of phosphorus to grain boundaries lowers the resistance of these steels to caustic stress corrosion cracking. When molybdenum is removed from a steel that has phosphorus segregated to the grain boundaries, the steel’s resistance to stress corrosion cracking is improved. High purity alloys, both with and without molybdenum, show very good resistance to caustic cracking at this potential. At-800 mVHg/Hgo segregated phophorus has no effect; only molybdenum additions lower the resistance of the steel to caustic stress corrosion cracking. Segregated tin has little effect at either potential. Metallographic examination shows that one explanation for these results is that molybdenum and phosphorus, probably as anions precipitated from solution, aid in passivating the sides of the crack and thus help keep the crack tip sharp. This sharpness will increase the speed with which the crack will propagate through the sample. Furthermore, removal of molybdenum greatly increases the number of cracks which nucleate. This higher crack density would increase the relative area of the anode to the cathode and thus act to decrease the crack growth rate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Energy, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 11973, Upton, Long Island, NY

    N. Bandyopadhyay

  2. General Electric Company, Corporate Research and Development-Kl, P.O. Box 8, 12301, Schenectady, NY

    C. L. Briant

Authors
  1. N. Bandyopadhyay
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  2. C. L. Briant
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Formerly with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

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Bandyopadhyay, N., Briant, C.L. Caustic stress corrosion cracking of NiCrMoV rotor steels—The effects of impurity segregation and variation in alloy composition. Metall Trans A 14, 2005–2019 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02662368

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