Effect of transient thermal cycles in a supercritical water-cooled reactor on the microstructure and properties of ferritic–martensitic steels

Microstructural and mechanical property changes in modified 9Cr–1Mo and HCM12A ferritic–martensitic steels resulting from short-duration thermal transients that occur during loss of feedwater flow events in a supercritical water reactor (SCWR) were studied. Specimen blanks were exposed to reference transients with 810 and 840 °C maximum temperatures using a thermal cycle simulator, and the subsequent microstructure, hardness, and creep-rupture strength were evaluated. Exposure to five consecutive cycles at either temperature resulted in no significant changes – only very slight indications of overtempering. Subsequent study of a wider variety of transient conditions showed that significant ferrite-to-austenite transformation occurred during thermal transients whose maximum temperature exceeded 860 °C, or during transients with holds exceeding 10 s at 840 °C maximum temperature. The subsequent presence of untempered martensite in the microstructure, coupled with severe overtempering, resulted in an order of magnitude decrease in creep-rupture strength at 600 °C. The findings were consistent with measured Ac1 temperatures for the two steels and the dependence of Ac1 on heating rate.