Corrosive Wear of Alloy 690 Tubes in Alkaline Water

The interaction between wear and corrosion can significantly increase total material losses in water chemistry environment. The corrosive wear tests of a PWR steam generator tube material (Alloy 690) against the anti vibration bar material (409 SS) were performed at room temperature. The tests were performed in alkaline water chemistry conditions. NaOH solution was selected for test condition to investigate the corrosive wear effect of steam generator tube material in alkaline pH condition without other factors. The flow induced vibration can caused tube damage and the corrosion can be occurred by water chemistry. The test results showed that, in the alkaline solution at pH 13.9, the corrosion current density was increased about ten times than that in the distilled water. And wear rate at pH 13.9 was increased about ten times from that at neutral condition. However, the wear rate was decreased with time. The decrease would be attributed to the change in roughness of specimen or sub-layer of the worn surface with time. From microstructure observation, severe abrasive shape and several wear debris were found. From those results, it could infer that the oxide film on Alloy 690 changed to easily breakable one in the alkaline water, and then abrasion with corrosion became the main wear mechanism.