NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND DESIGN 16 (1971) 205-222.

NORTH-HOLLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY

METALLOGRAPHIC

INVESTIGATION

IN THE PRESSURE

ON THE CLADDING

FAILURE

VESSEL OF A BWR

Tatsuo KONDO, Hajime N A K A J I M A and Ryukichi NAGASAKI

Reactor Materials Laboratory, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai-Mura, lbaraki-Ken, Japan
Received 2 February 1971
Samples were removed for metallographic analyses from one of the cracked portions of the multi-layer stainlesssteel weld overlay in the JPDR pressure vessel. Metaliographic structure and microchemical analysis were consistent with
each other in suggesting that the failure was caused by the significant depletion in the chromium content in the weld
metal. The lack in the compositional balance was found to have originated at the overlaying of the first layer on the dissimilar base metal. Morphological features of the cracks indicated the operation of stress corrosion cracking during the
process of crack propagation. The chemical composition of the weld metal, thermal history, tensile stress and environment were judged to have favoured the occurrence of cracking. Some of the cracks were found to have reached the
base metal across the weld boundaries and further penetrated into the vessel wall in the form of localized corrosion.
The attack was of pitting-type corrosion and it was considered to have been accelerated by the concentration-cell
action due to the formation of a concentration gradient of dissolved oxygen in water within the narrow cracks. In
consideration of the future security of the vessel, containing the defects in the corrosion-resistant liner, some possible
problems and further necessary studies were discussed. The probable influence of the high-temperature aqueous environment on the fatigue character of the reactor vessel was pointed out.

1. Introduction
Cracking failure in stainless-steel cladding o f steel
vessels has been recognized to be one o f the tect/nical
problems in the development and maintainance of lightwater cooled reactors [1]. JPDR, the Japanese experimental boiling-water type reactor, had experienced extensive cracking failure in its weld-overlay cladding at
the inner wall o f the top head. This failure was found
after 13000 net hours o f operation. Through visual
observation the cracks appeared to be located mainly
at the areas where all three layers were manually welded,
the sound areas having been made b y the automatic
machine welding after manually welding the initial single
layer. As far as the top-head was concerned all the
visible defects had been repaired by grinding off the
deposit and rewelding, except that a few typical cracks
were left unrepaired for later monitoring purposes.
Since the same fabrication procedure was employed
for the b o t t o m head, which is below the reactor core
and difficult to repair, the determination o f the cause
and mechanism o f the cracking has been considered
to be of practical importance concerning the future

maintainance and the scheduled revision for the powerup program*. Depending on whether the cracking
resulted from some metallurgical cause through a purely
mechanical process or through interaction of material
with the environment such as stress-corrosion cracking,
the possibility o f existence and/or extent of the cracks
would be different. Among the several influencing
factors the susceptibility of an austenitic stainless
steel to the stress-corrosion cracking is particularly
influenced by the oxygen content o f water at elevated
temperatures [2, 3 ] .
In the JPDR under the steady-state operation, the
oxygen contents are about 0.3 and 35 ppm in the
liquid phase near the bottom-head surface and in
the water-steam two-phase flow at the top-head area
respectively.
The present report includes the results o f a metallographic study on crack-samples removed from the
top head. Direct examination o f the metallographic
feature o f the cracks and structure as well as the microchemical analysis gave substantial information about
* JPDR-II Power-Doubling Project.

206

T. Kondo et aL, Cladding failure in pressure vessel

Main steam

p,p_ej~ i

Steam dr

Unloodil
nozzle
Emergen,
condense
return

Fuel as!
E
Contrl

wet carborundum papers up to 800 mesh, and acetylcellulose replicas were taken. Any surface etching was
applied only to the samples removed from the vessel,
so that no chemical contamination remained within the
cracks that were to be left in the reactor system. The
replicas were examined through an optical microscope.

2.2. Sample extraction

The location of the cracks to be extracted was
relatively remote from the nozzle part as shown in
fig. 1. At both sides along a crack deep groovings
were cut by means of a water-cooled grinding blade
to leave a piece of about 8 mm wide and 24 m m long.
Using cuttings of about 12 mm deep, this portion
was chilled with liquid nitrogen and then removed
by knocking off with a hammer to separate it in brittle fashion. The samples so removed contained 6 to
8 mm thick stainless-steel overlay cladding and 4 to 6
mm thick base-metal portions. A slightly smaller
sample was also removed in the same way. After the
removal of these samples the vessel wall was ground
smooth so that no appreciable stress concentration
results, but no additional protection such as cladding was applied.

Forced circul
inlet nozzl

2.3. Metallographic observation

The samples were sliced with a metallographic
cutting blade in cooling water in the manner as ilFig. 1. Location of the sample extraction.

Reactor Vessel
all S u r f a c e

Third Layer

the cause and process of the failure, and prepared a

basis for discussing some possible effects of the failure
on the safety of the pressure vessel in future operations.
The analyses were directed to the following phases:
1. Features of the metallurgical structure and chemical composition of the weld metal at the failed
and unfailed portions.
2. The morphology of the cracks and its relation
to the type or nature of fracture.
3. Effect of the cracking on the base metal.

{308L]
Second Layer ~
[308 L} ~ First Layer
m
Base Metal

P,oo

'~/~

7
.

~
,~
......... ]. . . .

~"
l
1

\\

I
I

,[
.

'

Plane A

Plane 3

2. Experimental

2.1. Surface observation

The surface of the failed cladding wall abraded with

10 mm

Fig. 2. Sketch of the sample removed from the inner wall of

the vessel. Each plane developed by the sectioning is marked
for identification.

T. Kondo et al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

lustrated in fig. 2. The planes developed by the slicing

were marked for identification purposes and the necessary metallographic treatments were applied. The other
analyses, including micro-chemical analysis, hardness
testing and replica- and scanning electron-microscopic
observations were made on the same planes so that all
the results could be consistently interpreted.
Since a wide range of erack widths was expected,
particular care was exercised on the metallographic
polishing for the purpose of examining the crack morphology. In fact there were fine cracks with the detected widths below 1000 A. The procedure employed
was as follows:
Step 1. From 320 up to 1200 mesh wet abrasion with
carborundum paper.
Step 2. From 15 up to 0.3/am wet abrasion with diamond paste and napless cloth on a disc-polisher.
Step 3. Light chemical etching of the base metal with
dilute Nital solution and the subsequent electrolytic etching of the stainless-steel portion in 10%
chromic acid solution.
The samples prepared were examined through an optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope (JOEL,
ESM-200) and a 100 kV electron microscope.

207

3. Results

finished by ordinary paper abrasion. A typical appearance of the cracked surface at the vessel inner wall is as shown in fig. 3. which was replicated
after light surface abrasion with 600 mesh wet carborundum paper. A similar observation was made
on the extracted samples which were furhter examined by giving metallographic etching. When
viewed at the actual surface of the cladding layer,
the cracking was judged to be mostly of intergranular
nature. The grain boundaries seemed to have separated both in the normal and shearing stress directions. Observation through the scanning electron
microscope shows the smooth and sharp fracture
surfaces within the cracks, indicating that the fracture occurred at the boundary without much resistance from plastic deformation.
The sectional planes parallel to the vessel wall
were macro-etched as shown in fig. 4. The photographs numbered as 1,2 and 3 correspond to those
of planes 1,2 and 3 in fig. 2, which had been located
approximately 2, 4 and 6 mm from the surface of
the cladding respectively before slicing. Examination
of these sections and interconnection of these lead
to a three dimensional image of the crack distribution.
It is concluded, then, that the cracks are found only
in some particular beads, and there are certain areas
to which cracks never did extend. In addition to the
above character it is also noted that the etching
character is clearly different between these cracked
and uncracked areas. The plane no. 3 contains cracks
considerably widened by localized corrosion. This
feature is also apparent when viewed at the vertical
sections. The cracks formed in the cladding layer
work as narrow water channels. The so called crevice
corrosion would have been in operation. The dark
area appeared in the plane corresponds to the base
metal, and evidently the cracks had reached the cladding-base metal boundary.
Fig. 5 shows some detailed features of the cracked
area which had been located by about 2 mm below the
cladding surface. Cracks are concentrated at the areas
where coarse austenite dendrites are formed. The mode
of fracture is predominantly intergranular in this plane.

3.1. Macroscopic observations

By careful metallographic surface preparation it was
found that there were actually many more cracks in the
density and length than recognized on the surfaces

3.2. Metallographic observations

The no. 1 plane contains two typically different
structures. The sound and defected portions are contrasted in fig. 6(a) and (b) respectively. The sound por-

2.4. Micro-chemical analysis

The distribution of major constitutional elements
in the cladding layer was measured by the line-scanning technique in an electron-probe X-ray micro
analyser (XMA hereafter). The recorded signals were
calibrated with those from standard alloy specimens to
convert these into the absolute contents in weight per
cent. Quantitative determination of the carbon content by XMA is not accurate enough, therefore the
standard chemical determination was employed, in
which each slice of the specimen as shown in fig. 2
was completely oxidized in the oxygen stream, and
the generated carbon dioxide was absorbed in electrolyte to determine the concentration of carbonate
ions by electrolytic titration.

208

T. Kondo et al., Cladding failure in the pressure vessel

J
t

I
,i

!
lmm

.,ii

0.1 mm
Fig. 3. Replica photographs of the cracks left unrepaired for future monitoring purpose.
tion is a typical weld structure for an austenitic stainless
steel containing several percents of ferritic phase, while
the failed portion consists only of austenite phase.
A careful polishing of the plane no. 3, which is the

closest to the base metal in the three planes observed, with 0.3/am diamond paste revealed some
faint traces of micro fissures. In observing these more
vividly the surface was electropolished in the perchloric

T. Kondo et al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

Fig. 4. Semi-macroscopic view of the sectional planes cut parallel to the vessel wall (Electro-etched in chromic-acid solutions).
Distance from cladding surface; 2 ram-plane 1,4 mm-plane 2 and 6 mm-plane 3.

209

210

T. Kondo et al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

0.5mm
Fig. 5. Optical micrograph of the sectional plane 1. (Electro-etched).
acid-ethanol mixture at relatively high current density,
so that no additional structural etching occurs, and
observation only of these fissures is made available. The
results obtained are shown in fig. 7 (a) and (b), the
optical and replica-electron micrographs respectively.
The patterns revealed are identified from ~hese features
to be of the martensitic phase that appears typical in
a stainless-steel weld metal deposited on a low-alloy
steel. The sharp lines and the accompanying long
shadows in the micrograph (b) indicate the presence
of micro fissures. The electron-scanning micrographs
of various magnifications in fig. 8 for the same plane
clearly reveal such fissures. Basically the martensite
formation would make the structure sensitive to
cracking, but in this case the presence of such fissures in the observed density may not provide the

condition for the cracking because of possible difficulty in stress concentration. In fact Norris et al.
[4] has reported, in the metaUographic observation of
the similar cladding failure in the Elk River Reactor,
that the cracks extended into the layer with martensite had been deflected to the lateral directions,
without reaching the cladding-base metal boundary.
In the present limited case no particular relation
was found between the cracks that reached the
boundary and the martensitic phase, since the formation of the latter was not extensive.
3.3. Crack m o r p h o l o g y

In order to estimate the sequence of the cracking

some vertical sections were examined. The sections
also revealed the crack tips where the base metal was

T. Kondo et aL, Cladding failure in pressure vessel

(a)

211

(b)

lO01um
Fig. 6. Optical micrographs of sound (photo a) and cracked (photo b) areas of cladding. The micrographs were taken from plane 1.

(a)

10~um

(b)

10 ~m

Fig. 7. Optical (photo a) and replica electron (photo b) micrographs of a grain boundary region in plane 2 (Electropolished in
ethanol-perchloric acid mixture).

212

T. Kondo e t al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

.J

|. . . . .

~J

1turn

lOtum

1,urn
Fig. 8. Electron-scanning micrographs of partly-martensitic austenite structure in plane 3.

T. Kondo et aL, Cladding failure in pressure vessel

213

CLADDING

BASE
METAL

Imm

Fig. 9. Optical micrograph of the failed portion in sectional plane A (Electro-etched).

214

T. Kondo et al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

affected by the arrival of the cracks and the resultant

direct contact with hot water. The modes of extension
of the cracks are typically shown in fig. 9. From these
morphological features shown, it may be natural to
suppose that the cracks were formed first at the cladding surface, or at least in the vicinity of it, and then
propagated toward the base metal. In this process the
cracks are considered to have branched. Another fact
to be noted is that the cracks become partially transgranular as they extend into the inner parts of the
cladding. More transgranular cracks were found in the
vertical cross sections than in either the outer surface
or the horizontal section, the plane no. 1. The three
layers of the overlay, which should be discretely
visible in vertical sections of ordinary multi-layer
overlay that are fabricated in the same way as the
present sample, are not clear even by deep etching in
these particular samples. It is thus suggested that excessive "shaffling" between the layers might have
caused the extensive dilution of the cladding metal
with the base metal during the repeated passes of the
welding operation. The tips of the branched cracks extend almost vertically toward the weld boundary, and
essentially no interfering layers seem to have existed
against the propagating cracks.
3.4. Microchemical determinations o f major elements
in the weld metal

A thin surface layer of the failed part of the cladding

was mechanically removed and chemical analysis was
made on the major constitutional elements. The results
are tabulated in table 1.

ratio for sound type 308L metal are 19 and 2.1

respectively. Further details of the element distribution can be depicted by the quantitative line scanning of the horizontal and vertical cross sections
using the XMA. It is again confirmed that the depletion in chromium has a direct relation to the occurrence of the cracking. The results shown in fig. 10
were obtained from the horizontal plane no. 1, the
plane shown in fig. 4. Therefore, it has been demonstrated that the chromium depletion is the origin of
the observed difference in the metallurgical structure
of the failed portion from that of the sound area,
and hence such a lack in the compositional balance
is responsible to the failure. The depletion of chromium is more pronounced in the layers close to the
base metal as seen in fig. 11 which is the line-scannings from the vertical plane B, the plane shown in
fig. 9. The depletion goes down to almost 13% at the
location corresponding to the first layer of overlay
welding. This layer corresponds to the layer made
of 309 Mo electrodes, and normally a large content
of chromium and nickel should be found.
Distribution of molybdenum and carbon is expected to give more substantial information on the sequence of the actual welding operation, since both
elements can be considered to work as tracers in the
type 308L weld deposit. In particular the carbon
content in the cladding layer ought to indicate the
extent of dilution by the base metal. Firstly much
diffused distribution of molybdenum as seen in fig.
11 may be the result of extensive mixing between
the layers. The result of carbon determination has

Table 1
Chemical composition of the surface layer of the cracked area.
Sample no. C

Si

Mn

Ni

Cr

Cr/Ni

1
2

0.29
0.25

1.27
1.26

10.26
9.80

17.82
16.82

1.74
1.72

0.05
0.06

Unit: weight per cent

Referring to the standard composition for the weld
deposit of type 308L steel, appreciable depletion in
chromium is noted, while other constituents falling
within nearly normal ranges. In consequence the so
called nickel-to-chromium ratio is about 1.7. The typical
values of chromium content and nickel-to-chromium

substantiated this, as can be seen in fig. 12. Another

problem in connection with the excessive incorporating of the base metal into the cladding is the metallurgical effect of carbon. Carbon contained in an
austenitic stainless steel tends to precipitate preferentially at grain boundaries as chromium carbide.

T. Kondo et al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

215

Horizontal Secion
20

cr

#15
t0
............. i _~i . . . .

,,-I ,,4_.i.............................................

Failed

0Q)

ii

[,

,,Sound
"I

t0

D I S T A N C E , mm
Fig. 10. Distribution of chromium and nickel in sectional plane 1 (XMA line-scanning).

Cladding A - 3 0 2 B
Base metal

Vertical Section

"

"

,-- 2 0
.... , ........................

.........................

.........

o_
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

t-Z
u.J
(.3
Z
0
(.3

01

i N~

~'

___L i
~

--

---

--1

~
--

Mo

o'

,....

__~
i

t0

DISTANCE FROM CLADDING S U R F A C E , mm

Fig. 11. Distribution of chromium, nickel and molybdenum in the vertical section, plane B (XMA line-scanning).

216

T. Kondo e t al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

O. 13

4
sI

O.12

_CLADDING BASE METAL

Sample Thickness

O.10
0.08

Overlay- Base Metal

BOundary

0.06

0.04
0.02
O.OO

L
I

1
4

DISTANCE FROM
SURFACE, mm

~ .o_.o-----o~

o-~' 1
300

200
I00
0
100
200
DISTANCE FROM WELD BOUNDARY , pm

CLADDING

300

z.O0

Fig. 13. Micro-knoop hardness at the cladding-base metal

boundary.

Fig. 12. Distribution of carbon in the cladding as a function of

distance from the surface.

Table 2
Range of
distance f r o m
cladding surface
(mm)

C
Average Dilution
content (%)
(%)

Cr
Ni
Average Dilution Average Dilution
content (%)
content (%)
(%)
(%)

0.2- 1.3
1.9 - 3.0

0.079
0.095

17.0
16.0

47.6
59.8

40.0
60.0

9.5
9.0

20

40.0
60.0

A,Ais,oo,tel

The associated chromium depletion in the vicinity of

such grain boundaries is a well known cause of the
sensitization to intergranular corrosion and stress-cor.... . or.o
rosion failures. The high carbon content of the present
samples are reflected in the high hardness of the cladding
metal. The micro-knoop hardness data shown in fig. 13
indicate much elevated hardness particularly in the viX
Q
cinity of the weld boundary. The decrease in the hardness in the adjacent part in the base metal may be result
N
M+F
of diffusional carbon transfer upon heating during the
welding operation and the subsequent stress removal
F (Ferrite)
annealing at 650C. The carbon transfer from a ferritic
1'0
12
1L.
1'6
1'8 2'0 2'2
2/.
26
28
to an austenitic-alloy steel is natural since the activity
%Or +%Mo +1.5~%Si
of carbon is much different between these two materials.
Fig. 14. Results of chemical and XMA-analyses plotted on the
The hardness observed was not less than KHN 350 in
Schaeffers's diagram. The dilution directions for overlaying on
the failed areas even at the place a few mm apart from
A302B are indicated with block lines. The numbers at the
the fusion line.
plot indicate the distance in mm from the cladding surface.
.

T. Kondo et al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

217

~y
J,

Ill

C21

0.1mm
Fig. 15. Corrosion of the base metal at the ends of the cracks in plane B. The mlcrograph (2) was taken after the surface shown
in the micrographs (1) was abraded off by 0.2 mm of thickness.

For convenience the welding process can be described in terms of the dilution by the base metal as follows. The first layer was welded with 39Mo electrodes to form a layer o f average composition, 14%
chromium, 8% nickel and 0.122% carbon.
The base metal, A302B, contained 0.65% nickel and

0,19% carbon and the deposit ought to have solidified

with 22% chromium and 12% nickel if no dilution
by the base metal were involved.
From the above discrepancies the calculated dilution coefficients are 36.4 and 35.3% on the bases
of chromium and nickel content respectively. There-

218

T. Kondo et al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

0:I

Cladding
Base Metal

Fig. 16. Corrosion of the base metal at the ends of the cracks in plane A, which is perpendicular to plane B.
fore approximately 36% dilution by the base metal
would have provided the first cause of the composi.
tional unbalance in the weld deposit.
The subsequent steps of welding with type 308L
electrodes on the 309Mo weld deposit can be sub,
jected to the similar judgement by assuming that
the weld metal of type 308L with 0.04% carbon,
19% chromium and 11% nickel was diluted by the
faulty weld deposit of the type 309Mo with 0.12%
carbon, 14% chromium and 8% nickel. The results
of calculation are shown in table 2.
The above results indicate the occurrence of extensive mixing between the overlayed layers.
According to Wylie [5] general allowable dilution of type 309Mo with A302B is not more than
around 16%, while the extensive dilution by 35%
as in the present case may correspond to the condition of forming weld metal of either fully austenitic
or partly martensitic austenite structure. If the welding of the first layer with 309Mo were normal, the
subsequent overlaying with 308L would not have
deviated too much from the standard composition
even if the extensive mixing as found in these layers
was the case. The results of the above described
chemical analyses can be summarized on a Schaeffer's
diagram for stainless-steel weld deposit of dissimilar
welds as shown in fig. 14. The figures in the diagram
indicate the location of sampling in terms of distance

from the cladding surface. The block lines in the

diagram indicate the "dilution direction lines" for
types 309Mo and 308L weld deposits on an A 302B
steel base. Any compositional variation due to mixing
is to fall on these lines. The results depict that the
dilution in the given multilayer welding was of considerable extent, and the resultant structural features
agree well with the metallographic structures observed.
3.5. The effect o f the cladding failure to the base metal
As already noted in figs. 4 and 9, some of the cracks
had reached the base metal. Since the base metal is much
less corrosion resistant compared to the weld overlay,
direct contact with the hot water through the cracks
may result in rapid corrosion attack.
In the vertical section shown in fig. 15 cracks are
seen to have extended into the base metal across the
fusion line in the form of localized corrosion penetrations. Considering a three-dimensional geometry, the attacked portions are thought to have extended as
"ditches" lying along the tips of the cracks. The comparison of the top and bottom pictures in fig. 15 indicate this. It ought to be noted that there is a slight
tendency of a correlation between the feature of the
corrosion penetration and the direction of the major
permanent strain left as the opening of the cracks. The
micrograph in fig. 15 was taken from plane B, which
lies parallel to the direction of large permanent strain.

T. Kondo et al., Cladding failure in pressure vessel

219

Cladding
BaseMetal

Fig. 17. Corrosion penetration at the cladding-base metal boundary in plane B.

While in plane A, which is perpendicular to plane
B, the attack is seen to have extended rather laterally along the fusion line as shown in fig. 16. It is not
clear, however, from these limited materials whether
the corrosion penetration actually has a certain relation with the stress acting on the crack tips or not.
It is, therefore, suggested that any feasibility of a
mechanochemical effect, such as stress corrosion or
corrosion fatigue under the given particular electrochemical condition, must be justified by further experimental studies.
The very random and complicated feature of the
corrosion.reaction interface at the attacked portion
can be seen in fig. 17, the magnified version of fig,
15. This indicates the occurrence of pitting-type corrosion. The trend of pitting in a narrow crevice, such:

as in the crack observed, has been predicted, since

the electrochemical condition including the formation
of an oxygen-concentration cell in such portion may
lead to pitting attack.

4. Discussion
4. I. Formation and growth o f cracks in the stainlesssteel cladding
It has been shown that there is a consistent agreement among the metallurgical structure, chemical
composition and the occurrence of the cracks. They
can be correlated to each other in terms of the excessive dilution during the welding of dissimilar
materials. The resultant pronounced depletion in

220

T. K o n d o et al., Claddings failure in pressure vessel

chromium had the largest influence on the formation

of the austenite single-phase structure, being sensitive
to cracking under the given service conditions. The
cracks were not observed at the time of installation
of the vessel as far as the dye penetrant test after the
stress removal heating had indicated. Thus the failure
is thought to have occurred during the reactor operation period, although exact estimation of the time of
occurrence is difficult.
From the observed morphological feature of
cracking, the cracks are thought to have initiated at
the cladding surface and then propagated toward the
base metal across the two weld boundaries. The existence of transgranular cracks is evidence that the
cracking is due to other than ordinary intergranular
fissuring of a fully austenitic weld metal which, generally, is of intergranular nature [5]. The cracks are
concentrated in the top head area where the environmental condition is characteristic both of increased
oxygen concentration and continuous condensation
of steam at the wall surface. The latter condition can
cause accumulation of impurities in water carried
over by steam. Although the exact level of effective
impurity at the cladding surface can by no means be
estimated, the contribution of such a factor can not
be ignored in considering the cause and process of
cracking. In the last decade, stress-corrosion cracking
in a high-temperature deionized water environment
has come under attention and more than several
cases have been reported to have occurred in the
nuclear-reactor water environments [1 ].
Austenite single phase is more sensitive to the stresscorrosion cracking than austenite plus ferrite structure
[6]. The conditions to be satisfied for the operation
of stress-corrosion cracking of an austenite stainless
steel in high-temperature water may be: 1. Tensile
stress above a certain critical level; 2. Oxygen content in the environment; 3. Chloride or other ions including hydroxide [2, 3, 7]. In particular the dissolved
oxygen plays a particular role in promoting the phenomenon [8].
The water quality of the JPDR that has been maintalned is typically described by the following figures;
specific electrical conductivity chrolide 6 ppb and
oxygen 0.3 (liquid phase at the bottom head) to 35
ppm. (steam-water two phase flow region at the top
head). The tensile stress estimated to have acted on
the surface of the cladding was around 22 kg/mm 2 .

For justifying the feasibility of the occurrence of

stress-corrosion cracking in the given reactor water
condition, very limited information is available at
the present date. Staehle [2] has tested type 304
steel in a circulating autoclave system under the conditions covering those at a typical BWR. In attempting
an approximate judgement on the present subject a
rough extrapolation is made as shown in fig. 18. The
plot indicates that there is a possibility of cracking
in the JPDR aqueous environment within 1 net year
of duration when fully austenite weld metal is kept
under the tensile stress not less than 15 kg/mm 2.
Both the stress removal heating at 650C and the
final surface grinding [9] would have given the metal
some additional susceptibility to stress-corrosion cracking.
There is another supporting piece of evidence that
the stress corrosion-cracking is responsible for the
failure. Recent results of the reactor surveillance tests
for crack detection at the bottom head have indicated
that the cracks formed in the bottom-head and shell-wall
areas were much less in number and depth than in the
top-head. The liquid phase, where the bottom-head
and shell-wall areas were exposed, is much less aggressive in stress-corrosion trend since its oxygen level is
about two orders of magnitude less than the steamwater phase. Consequently, the origin and the sequence
of the failure can be concluded to be, respectively, the

l" ~ m O ~15Kg[mr132~0eC

-1~.

1 ~lOOdop I

,_gl

(j10"

o
if-

~ "

c
E

-lda7

~ ~ ~ . . ~-~158ppm112,15Kg/IT m 2 , 260"C
6ppb :.1-

10.2

10-1

1
NaCI

101

10

03

10 z"

ppm

Fig. 18. Extrapolation of literature data [2] for an equivalent

material in testing the feasibility of stress-corrosion cracking in
JPDR pressure vessel.

T. Kondo et al., Claddings failure in pressure vessel

improper welding to form a crack sensitive material

and the stress-corrosion action of the environment
to assist the cracking process.
4.2. Corrosion o f the base metal and its relation to
the future integrity,of the vessel
The very irregular nature of the corrosion interface observed at the localized attack of the base metal
in fig. 17, is the result of rapid pitting reaction. Recent
results concerning the pitting corrosion in the crevices
of A302B steel with stainless-steel overlay have indicated
about 20 times higher penetration rate as compared
to that of freely-exposed surfaces of A302B steel in
water at 270C [10]. In the narrow crevices like those
formed by the cracks are apt to contain oxygen-concentration gradient between the tips of the cracks and
the surface areas in aqueous environment. In the corrosion of steel in high-temperature water dissolved
oxygen plays an important role, and the concentration
gradient provides a certain electromotive force resulting in a concentration cell formation in the crevice
opening. Such a situation, perhaps including the contribution of electrochemical dissimilarity of the stainless-steel cladding and the base metal, is believed to
favor a particular anodic condition to promote pitting corrosion, where the low-alloy steel fails to maintain stable passivity.
In principle the base metal exposed to water at the
bottom of the crevices formed by the cracks in the
cladding may be polarized toward anodic direction
by either of the above two electrochemical factors.
It must be noted that there can be certain effect
of such chemical environment on the low cycle fatigue
of the pressure vessel due to the stress cycling accompanying the reactor-operation cycles.
The low cycle fatigue of steel vessels have been a
potential subject of reactor-structural safety problems, and studies have been concentrated in the fatigue
analysis in atmospheric conditions. Therefore, essentially no information has been available on the effect of
the high-temperature water environment on the fatiguecrack propagation.
Although the cracks observed in the present
study were not those created at high-stress regions
like-nozzle corners, there were different features
in the form of corrosion attack at the tips of the
cracks depending on the direction of stresses acting
on the cracks. The vessel had experienced about

221

50 cycles of tensile stress waves due to the operation shift up to the date of the sampling. It is not
clear whether the characteristic shape of the corroded portion seen in fig. 15 and 17 is the result of
corrosion fatigue or not. However, it should be
natural to suspect the effect of the aggressivecorrosion environment on the propagation of fatigue
cracks as a future problem. Concerning the environmental effect on the fatigue of pressure-vessel steels,
Crooker and Lange [11 ] have reported that A302B
steel in simulated boiler water is cracked a few times
faster than in air under repeated bending. Wellinger
[12] has demonstrated the effect of stress cycling
rate to be much influencing for a steel in the number
of cycles to failure in 60 C water. The influence
of several factors on fatigue of steels are being critically tested in high-temperature water system by
the authors [ 13], and some preliminary results
have indicated a substantial effect of environment
should be taken into account in considering the low
cycle fatigue behaviour of steel pressure vessels particularly when their corrosion-resisting linear contain defects.
~Fhe major controlling factors are temperature, stress
or strain amplitude and cycling rate, stress-wave pattern, water quality and so forth. A more critical survey
on the defect-containing vessels may be made available after these studies have been made.

5. Conclusions
1. The failure of the weld-overlay cladding was caused
by the miscomposition of the weld metal due tO improper welding operation. The failure corresponds
directly the depletion in chromium and the associated
metallurgical-structure.
2. The depletion in ch1'omium is the result of excessive
dilution of the first layer of type 309Mo with A302B
base metal, and the subsequent overlaying with type
308L material was not successfully made. The minimum chromium content observed was about 13%,
and the structure of the deposite metal was either
single austenite or partial martensitic austenite in
the failed regions.
3. On the basis of the crack morphology, the metallurgical structure and the environmental conditions,
stress-corrosion cracking is thought to have been in
operation.

222
4. The cracks reached the base metal across the fusion
lines have extended into the base metal in the form
of an aggregate of corrosion pits. The pitting corrosion was thought to be the result of the crevice effect within the cracks.
5. A probability and the necessity of studies concerning
the corrosion fatigue were pointed out.

Acknowledgements
Thanks are due Dr. R.D. Wylie of Sowthwest Research Institute, Texas, USA and Prof. Y. Ando of
University of Tokyo for discussions and the encouragement of this work. The support by the JPDR Pressure Vessel Safety Evaluation Committee is appreciated.
Assistance by Messers T. Kikuyama and Y. Katano
was very helpful in preparing electron micrographs.

References
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Power Reactor Technology 9 (1966) 101-109.
[2] R.W. Staehle, Circulating Autoclave System for Stress
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[3] W.L. Williams,Chloride and Caustic Stress Corrosion of

Austenitic Stainless Steel in Hot Water and Steam, Corrosion 13 (1957) 539-545.
[4] E.B. Norris et al., The Second Inspection of the Elk
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