Development of thermal fatigue testing apparatus with BWR water environment and thermal fatigue strength of austenitic stainless steels

A thermal fatigue testing apparatus was developed in order to clarify the fatigue behavior in BWR environment. Pressurized high and low temperature pure water were alternately supplied into an autoclave with a small cylindrical specimen. Then a fatigue specimen was subjected to homogeneous thermal stress through the wall thickness. Fatigue crack initiation behavior was observed with the replication method and compared with the mechanical fatigue strength performed in air and high temperature water. The thermal fatigue strength of type 304 and 316 nuclear grade (316NG) stainless steels agreed closely with the mechanical fatigue strength, when transforming the nominal stress amplitude to the fictitious stress amplitude by using the mean value of strain amplitudes for room temperature and 288 degrees C. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.