July 21, 2023
Conference Paper
Intergranular oxidation and oxygen transport in Ni-20Cr during exposure to model dry and wet oxidation environments
Abstract
Selective oxidation is a critical component of the proposed internal oxidation mechanism of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) for Ni-based alloys in primary water reactor (PWR) operation. To isolate and study this process, the binary Ni-20Cr was exposed to pressurized water and a CO/CO2 gas mixture. In both environments, the oxygen potential was kept under the Ni/NiO line to stimulate penetrative intergranular attack. A combination of electron microscopy and atom probe tomography was used to study the nanometer-scale details of the passivation and penetrative intergranular oxidation processes at high-energy grain boundaries. Oxygen transport towards the terminating oxidation front is elucidated with dedicated usage of oxygen isotopic tracer exchange experiments to support classical theories of internal oxidation, revealing preferred oxygen transport paths were visualized with sub-nanometer resolution.Published: July 21, 2023