Prediction Model for Corrosion Fatigue Lives of Austenitic Stainless Steels in Pressurized Water Reactor Environments.

A basic problem of austentitic stainless steels applied in pressurized water reactors (PWR) is degradation by corrosion fatigue. This paper proposes a prediction model (Nuclear Power Institute of China [NPIC] model) to estimate corrosion fatigue lives of austenitic stainless steels in PWR environments. The NPIC model is built on a corrosion fatigue mechanism and indicates the corrosion fatigue processes better than the ANL model proposed by Argonne National Laboratory. Both the NPIC and ANL models are somewhat conservative in their predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]