Examination of Compatibility of Potentially Cavitation-Resistant Modifications of Type 316LN Stainless Steel with Mercury in a Thermal Convection Loop

[摘要] A 316L stainless steel thermal convection loop (TCL) containing a variety of stainless steel coupons circulated mercury for 2000 h. The TCL conditions included a maximum temperature of 307 C, a maximum temperature gradient of 90 C, and a Hg velocity of about 1.4 m/min. In addition to mill-annealed/surface-ground 316LN coupons serving as the baseline material, other coupons included 316LN that was 50% cold-worked, 316LN that was given a proprietary surface hardening treatment termed ''kolsterizing,'' and Nitronic 60. The purpose of this test was to examine Hg compatibility with these modest variations of annealed 31 6LN stainless steel that are considered potential improvements over annealed 31 6LN for cavitation-erosion resistance in the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) target containment system. The results indicated negligible weight change for each coupon type, no significant indication of attack or surface roughening, and generally no interaction with Hg.

[发布日期] 2002-08-29 [发布机构] Oak Ridge National Laboratory

[关键词] Modifications;Surface Hardening;36 Materials Science;Stainless Steels;Spallation