Experimental investigation on sliding and fretting wear of steam generator tube materials

In nuclear power steam generators, high flow rates can induce vibration of the tubes resulting in fretting wear damage due to contacts between the tubes and their supports. In this paper, the sliding and fretting wear tests were performed using Inconel 600HTMA and 690TT against STS 304, which are the steam generator tube materials. The sliding wear tests with a pin-on-disk type tribometer were carried out under various applied loads and sliding speeds at air environment. The fretting wear tests were carried out under various vibrating amplitudes and applied normal loads. The result of sliding and fretting wear tests show that the heat-treated Inconel 690TT has better wear resistance than Inconel 600HTMA in air. The fretting wear regimes were plotted using the test results and the wear coefficient was calculated also. From the results, it was observed that the wear and tear by stick-slip has very strong effect on the fretting wear behavior.