High cycle fatigue behavior of Incoloy 800H in a simulated high-temperature gas-cooled reactor helium environment

The current study was an attempt to evaluate the high cycle fatigue strength of Incoloy 800H in a High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor helium environment containing significant quantities of moisture. As-heat-treated and thermally-aged materials were tested to determine the effects of long term corrosion in the helium test gas. Results from in-helium tests were compared to those from a standard air environment. It was found that the mechanisms of fatigue failure were very complex and involved recovery/recrystallization of the surface ground layer on the specimens, sensitization, hardness changes, oxide scale integrity, and oxidation at the tips of propagation cracks. For certain situations a corrosion-fatigue process seems to be controlling. However, for the helium environment studied, there was usually no aging or test condition for which air gave a higher fatigue strength