Study on hydrogen embrittlement and dynamic strain ageing on low-alloy reactor pressure vessel steels

Reactor Pressure Vessel Embrittlement—i

Origin of Embrittlement of Commercial Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels: Cu-rich Precipitates and Defects

The irradiation-induced embrittlement of the nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels is currently a vital issue for ensuring safe operation of nuclear power plants in the world since the reactors of the first generation are going to exceed their initially designed operation lifetimes. Thus, it is of great importance to reveal the nanostructural change, attributed to the origins of the embr...

Positron Annihilation Measurements on Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy is a valuable microscopic method to study radiation damage in nuclear reactor pressure vessel steels. At SCKoCEN, a new positron lifetime setup, suited to measure positron lifetimes in irradiated steel, is being constructed. The particularity of this setup is that the prompt count rate originating from the induced 60Co-activity in the steel is highly reduced. ...

Study on Temper Embrittlement and Hydrogen Embrittlement of a Hydrogenation Reactor by Small Punch Test

The study on temper embrittlement and hydrogen embrittlement of a test block from a 3Cr1Mo1/4V hydrogenation reactor after ten years of service was carried out by small punch test (SPT) at different temperatures. The SPT fracture energy Esp (derived from integrating the load-displacement curve) divided by the maximum load (Fm) of SPT was used to fit the Esp/Fm versus-temperature curve to determ...

Prevention of Hydrogen Embrittlement in Steels

The essential facts about the nature of the hydrogen embrittlement of steels have now been known for 140 years. It is diffusible hydrogen that is harmful to the toughness of iron. It follows, therefore, that the harmful influence of diffusible hydrogen can be mitigated by preventing its entry into steel or by rendering it immobile once it penetrates the material. This review deals with the meth...