Effects of Cold-Work Degree on Stress Corrosion Cracking Behavior of Alloy 600 in Simulated Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Water Environments

The growth behavior of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of Alloy 600 with different cold-work levels was investigated in simulated boiling water reactors water environments. In addition, a correlation of cold-work levels, grain boundary characteristic, and the SCC growth behavior of Alloy 600 were studied. The results show that grains with high residual strain caused by cold work provide transgranular crack growth paths. The SCC growth rates of the specimens also increase with an increase in the degree of cold work and decrease remarkably after switching to the hydrogen water chemistry environment. Grain boundary character proves to be a factor more important than the localized strain concentration at the grain boundary in terms of its role in the intergranular crack growth rate of the Alloy 600 with a cold-work degree from 20% to 30%.