Slow Strain Rate Testing of Alloy 22 in Simulated Concentrated Ground Waters

Abstract

Abstract The proposed engineering barriers for the high-level nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain include a double walled container and a detached drip shield. The candidate material for the external wall of the container is Alloy 22 (N06022). One of the anticipated degradation modes for the containers could be environmentally assisted cracking (EAC). The objective of the current research was to characterize the effect of applied potential and temperature on the susceptibility of Alloy 22 to EAC in simulated concentrated water (SCW) and other environments using the slow strain rate technique (SSRT). Results show that the temperature and applied potential have a strong influence on the susceptibility of Alloy 22 to suffer EAC in SCW solution. Limited results show that sodium fluoride solution is more detrimental than sodium chloride solution.