Stress corrosion crack growth rate in dissimilar metal welds

Dissimilar welds, used to join different sections in light water reactors, are potentially susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in aqueous m ediums characteristic of nuclear plants. However, the study of these wells has been limited to evaluating the weld material susceptibility in these me diums. Little scarce data are available on crack growth rates due, fundamen tally, to inadequate testing techniques. In order to address this lack of i nformation the crack growth rate at the interface of ferritic SA533B-1 allo y and alloy 1-82, in a dissimilar weld (SA533B-1/I-82/316L), was studied. E xperiments were conducted in water at 288 degrees C, 8 ppm of O-2 and 1 mu S/cm conductivity.