Effect of cold-work on self-welding susceptibility of austenitic stainless steel (alloy D9) in high temperature flowing sodium

Self-welding susceptibility of alloy D9 (15Cr–15Ni–2Mo titanium–modified austenitic stainless steel), used as wrapper in the fuel subassemblies of sodium cooled fast reactor, was studied in flowing sodium. Specimens were tested at 823 K in annealed and in 20% cold-worked condition up to a maximum contact stress of 24.5 MPa and maximum duration of 9 months. The results showed that the annealed alloy D9 showed good resistance to self-welding in all the tests. But 20% cold-worked alloy D9 got self-welded in all the tests except in the test carried out for 3 months duration indicating that tests conducted at high contact stresses and long duration reduce the resistance of the steel to self-weld. Microstructural changes observed in the cold-worked alloy D9 at the location of contact between the mating surfaces indicate dynamic recovery resulting from high contact stress and temperature facilitating self-weld.