Methods to overcome embrittlement problem in 9Cr-1Mo ferritic steel and its weldment

Abstract

This article presents the issues that need to be addressed in ferritic steel, for their use in nuclear core, namely, the embrittlement and type IV cracking of weldment. It has been established that the ferritic steels possess a significantly higher resistance to radiation damage as compared to the present generation austenitic stainless steels and the creep behavior is satisfactory for applications up to 873 K. The major challenges that need to be addressed are the poor creep resistance of the weld joints and embrittlement of ferritic steels. This article describes the efforts taken at IGCAR to overcome the embrittlement problem by impurity control, grain boundary engineering or design of suitable thermomechanical treatments in a 9Cr-1Mo ferritic steel.