About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Enabling Nuclear Materials Innovation via the Nuclear Science User Facility Capabilities
|
| Presentation Title |
Solute Behavior in Thermally Aged vs Neutron-Irradiated Commercial Pressure Vessel Steel Heat Affected Zone Using Atom Probe Tomography |
| Author(s) |
Caleb Clement, Catherine Cmar, J. Brian Hall, Sara Wonner, Jana Howard, Sohail Shah, Mukesh Bachav, Elliot Long |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Caleb Clement |
| Abstract Scope |
For irreplaceable components in nuclear reactors, such as the reactor pressure vessel, long term aging and dose accumulation can have limiting consequences on the plant’s lifetime. Particularly, solute clustering and grain boundary segregation present challenges for hardening and non-hardening embrittlement in low alloy steels (LAS). A recent NSUF-funded program examined solute behavior in a low Cu LAS harvested from a commercial pressurizer thermally aged for 32 effective full power years, and in the same grade of LAS taken from a commercial surveillance program, irradiated to 5.14x1019 n/cm2. Leveraging atom probe tomography, the grain boundary and matrix regions of these material’s heat affected zones were examined. Thermal diffusion and radiation-enhanced diffusion are shown to produce contrasting segregation and clustering behavior. These results are compared to prior literature reports and correlated to reported mechanical behavior. This work provides insight into the microstructural evolution of two reactor components, highlighting variations in degradation mechanisms. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Characterization, Nuclear Materials, Iron and Steel |