Distinct properties of tungsten austenitic stainless alloy as a potential nuclear engineering material

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and technology Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 784 - 791
• Main Authors: Salama, E, Eissa, M.M, Tageldin, A.S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Austenitic stainless steel; Tungsten; Mechanical properties; Microstructure; Gamma and neutron shielding
• ISSN: 1738-5733; 2234-358X

In the present study, a series of tungsten austenitic stainless steel alloys have been developed by interchanging the molybdenum in standard SS316 by tungsten. This was done to minimize the long-life residual activation occurred in molybdenum and nickel after decommissioning of the power plant. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the prepared alloys are determined. For the sake of increasing multifunction property of such series of tungsten-based austenitic stainless steel alloys, gamma shielding properties were studied experimentally by means of NaI(Tl) detector and theoretically calculated by using the XCOM program. Moreover, fast neutrons macroscopic removal cross-section been calculated. The obtained combined mechanical, structural and shielding properties indicated that the modified austenitic stainless steel sample containing 1.79% tungsten and 0.64% molybdenum has preferable properties among all other investigated samples in comparison with the standard SS316. These properties nominate this new composition in several nuclear application domains such as, nuclear shielding domain.