Evaluation of Alternative Base Materials for Mitigation of Stress Relaxation Cracking in Thermal Energy Storage Tanks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52825/solarpaces.v3i.2350Keywords:
Molten Salt Storage Tank, Stress Relaxation Cracking, Welding, Stainless SteelAbstract
Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants with thermal energy storage (TES) face challenges related to stress relaxation cracking (SRC) in molten hot salt tanks. While alloy 347H stainless steel (SS) is commonly employed due to its stress corrosion cracking (SCC) resistance and sufficient mechanical properties, it suffers from SRC in the weld region. This study explores alloy 1.4910 as a potential alternative, known for its superior creep strength and molten salt corrosion resistance. Thermomechanical testing using a Gleeble® 3500 physical simulator reveals promising results for alloy 1.4910 heat affected zone (HAZ) and 16-8-2 filler (ER16.8.2) fusion zone (FZ), with no cracking observed within a 22-hour test period at elevated temperatures ranging from 600 to 800°C and initial true stress conditions of 650 MPa (0.174 strain) for HAZ and 460 MPa (yield strength) for FZ. In contrast, alloy 347H HAZ and matching filler FZ experienced cracking within a few hours at 800°C. Metallurgical characterization and fractography are additionally conducted on cross welded 1.4910 samples with 16-8-2 filler and thermomechanical Gleeble® samples.
Downloads
References
[1] J. D. Osorio, M. Mehos, L. Imponenti, B. Kelly, H. Price, J. Torres-Madronero, et al., "Failure Analysis for Molten Salt Thermal Energy Storage Tanks for In-Service CSP Plants," National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), United States, 2024.
[2] T. Pickle, C. Augustine, and Z. Yu, "Mechanical Failure Risk Management for In-Service CSP Nitrate Hot Tanks," National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), United States, 2024.
[3] C. Augustine, T. Pickle, Y. Hong, J. Vidal, and Z. Yu, "Stress Relaxation Cracking of Al-loys at Temperatures Higher Than 540°C," National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), United States, 2024.
[4] R. D. Thomas, Jr. and R. W. Messler, "Welding Type 347 Stainless Steel-An Interpretive Report," Welding Research Council Bulletin, vol. Bulletin 421, 1997.
[5] T. Pickle, Y. Hong, J. Vidal, C. Augustine, and Z. Yu, "Stress relaxation cracking suscep-tibility evaluation in 347H stainless steel welds," Welding in the World, 2024.
[6] J. C. Lippold and D. J. Kotecki, "Ch. 6 Austenitic Stainless Steel," in Welding Metallurgy and Weldability of Stainless Steels, ed: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2005.
[7] J.-W. Rensman, M. W. Spindler, and C. Shargay, "Stress Relaxation Cracking, A Misun-derstood Problem in the Process Industry," in ASME 2023 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference, 2023.
[8] P. Neumann, D. A. Miller, and R. A. Ainsworth, "Material factors which influence remain-ing life of components subject to reheat cracking," in Fracture, Plastic Flow, and Struc-tural Integrity, ed: CRC Press, 2019, pp. 175-184.
[9] J. C. van Wortel, "Prevention of Relaxation Cracking by Material Selection and or Heat Treatment: Final Report," TNO Institute of Industrial Technology2000.
[10] H. van Wortel, "Control of Relaxation Cracking in Austenitic High Temperature Compo-nents," presented at the NACE Corrosion, Nashville, TN, 2007.
[11] T. E. Standard, "EN 10028-7:2016 Flat products made of steels for pressure purposes-Part 7: Stainless Steels," ed.
[12] B. Helmersson, M. Navas, A. Martinez-Tarifa, R. Wu, and A. Backhouse, "Molten Nitrate Corrosion Testing and Creep Data for Stainless Steels," presented at the SolarPACES 2019, Daegu, South Korea, 2020.
[13] A. Bonk, W. Ding, A. Hanke, M. Braun, J. Müller, S. Klein, et al., "Effect of gas manage-ment on corrosion resistance in molten solar salt up to 620 °C: Corrosion of SS316-types and SS347," Corrosion Science, vol. 227, p. 111700, 2024.
[14] T. Osuki, Y. Suzuki, S. Kurihara, T. Ono, and M. Ueyema, "Proposal of 18Cr-8Ni based Austenitic Stainless Steel with Superior Stress Relaxation Cracking Resistance," in Asso-ciation for Materials Production and Performance (AMPP), San Antonio, TX, 2022.
[15] C. Fink, H. Wang, B. T. Alexandrov, and J. Penso, "Filler Metal 16-8-2 for Structural Welds on 304H and 347H Stainless Steels for High Temperature Service," Welding Jour-nal, vol. 99, pp. 312-322, 2020.
[16] Y. U. Hong, T. Pickle, J. Vidal, C. Augustine, and Z. Yu, "Impact of Plate Thickness and Joint Geometry on Residual Stresses in 347H Stainless Steel Welds," Welding Journal, vol. 102, pp. 279-292, 2023.
[17] T. Pickle, Y. Hong, C. Augustine, J. Vidal, and Z. Yu, "Stress Relaxation Cracking in 347H Stainless Steel Arc Welds: Susceptibility Evaluation of Heat-Affected Zone," Met-als, vol. 14, p. 494, 2024.
[18] ASTM, "ASTM E8 / E8M - 21 Standard Test Methods for Tension Testing of Metallic Ma-terials," 2021.
[19] R. Kant and J. N. DuPont, "Stress Relief Cracking Susceptibility in High-Temperature Alloys," Welding Journal, vol. 98, pp. 29-49, 2019.
[20] T. Sourmail, T. Okuda, and J. E. Taylor, "Formation of chromium borides in quenched modified 310 austenitic stainless steel," Scripta Materialia, vol. 50, pp. 1271-1276, 2004.
[21] P. J. Maziasz, "The formation of diamond-cubic eta phase in type 316 stainless steel ex-posed to thermal aging or irradiation environments " Scripta Metallurgica, vol. 13, pp. 621-626, 1979.
[22] O. DeNonno, J. F. Gonzales, S. Tate, R. Hamlin, and J. Klemm-Toole, "Role of Austenite Stability in Elevated Temperature Mechanical Properties of Gas Metal Arc-Directed En-ergy Deposition Austenitic Stainless Steels," JOM, 2024.
Published
How to Cite
Conference Proceedings Volume
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Timothy Pickle, Joel Harvey, Theodore Vassi, Ravi Vishnu, Paul Janiak, Andy Backhouse, Sergio Davila, Bruce Leslie, Kurt Drewes, Zhenzhen Yu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Accepted 2025-04-29
Published 2025-11-25