Environmental effect on fatigue crack initiation under equi-biaxial loading of an austenitic stainless steel

The lifetime extension of nuclear power stations is considered an energy challenge worldwide. That is why the risk analysis and the study of various effects of different factors that could potentially prevent safe long-term operation are necessary. These structures, often of great dimensions, are subjected during their life to complex loading combining varying multiaxial mechanical loads with non-zero mean values associated with temperature fluctuations under a PWR (pressure water reactor) environment. Based on more recent fatigue data (including tests at 300 °C in air and a PWR environment, etc.), some international codes (RCC-M, ASME, and others) have proposed and suggested a modification of the austenitic stainless steels fatigue curve combined with a calculation of an environmental penalty factor, namely Fen, which has to be multiplied by the usual fatigue usage factor. The determination of the field of validation of the application of this penalty factor requires obtaining experimental data. The aim of this paper is to present a new device, “FABIME2e” developed in the LISN (Laboratory of Integrity of Structures and Normalization) in collaboration with EDF (Electricity of France) and Framatome. These new tests allow the effect of a PWR environment on a disk specimen to be quantified. This new device combines structural effects such as equibiaxiality and mean strain and the environmental penalty effect with the use of a PWR environment during fatigue tests.