Evaluation of the hoop tensile properties of a steam generator tube

The steam generators in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) are large heat exchangers that use the heat from the primary reactor coolant to make steam on the secondary-side to drive turbine generators. Hoop stress is known to be the main cause of fracture of inner pressurized tubes such as the steam generator tube. However, because the steam generator tube is too small to be manufactured to a standard tensile specimen in the hoop direction, the axial tensile properties of the steam generator tube (or original material properties) instead of hoop tensile properties have been used to estimate the fracture properties of a steam generator tube. In this study, we have conducted not only axial tensile tests but also ring tensile tests. From these test, both the axial and hoop tensile properties of steam generator tubes were obtained, and the reliability of the hoop tensile properties were confirmed by burst test of a real steam generator tube.