The Stress Corrosion Crack Growth Rate of Alloy 600 Heat Affected Zones Exposed to High Purity Water

Grain boundary chromium carbides improve the resistance of nickel based alloys to primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC). However, in weld heat affected zones (HAZ's), thermal cycles from fusion welding can solutionize beneficial grain boundary carbides, produce locally high residual stresses and strains, and promote PWSCC. The present research investigates the crack growth rate of an A600 HAZ as a function of test temperature. The A600 HAZ was fabricated by building up a gas-tungsten-arc-weld deposit of EN82H filler metal onto a mill-annealed A600 plate. Fracture mechanics based, stress corrosion crack growth rate testing was performed in high purity water between 600 F and 680 F at an initial stress intensity factor of 40 ksi {radical}in and at a constant electrochemical potential. The HAZ samples exhibited significant SCC, entirely within the HAZ at all temperatures tested. While the HAZ samples showed the same temperature dependence for SCC as the base material (HAZ: 29.8 {+-} 11.2{sub 95%} kcal/mol vs A600 Base: 35.3 {+-} 2.58{sub 95%} kcal/mol), the crack growth rates were {approx} 30X faster than the A600 base material tested at the same conditions. The increased crack growth rates of the HAZ is attributed to fewer intergranular chromium rich carbides and to increased plastic strain in the HAZ as compared to the unaffected base material