Study on Pipe Wastage Mechanism by Liquid Droplet Impingement Erosion

Evaluation of wastage speed for nuclear power plant maintains plant reliability and power up rating is important. There are two main cause of wastage flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) and mechanical erosion. This study is to develop evaluating the wastage speed by liquid droplet impingement erosion (LDIE). LDIE often occurs at downstream of corner of pipe or orifice. In this study, the liquid drop impinging tests were conducted with the test pieces mounted on a high speed rotating disk that cross thin water down jet and produced LDIE phenomena. The amount of the wastage by LDIE was evaluated by changing the rotational speed, the impingement frequency, and test piece materials. In addition, the generation mechanism of erosion was investigated by observing the surface of the test piece with a microscope. There is a method of evaluating by the mass difference before and after experiments. But this method is not correct because error becomes larger for mass measurement in the experiment, for the lost mass by LDIE is very little amount. Therefore, the method was developed to measure the volume in the erosion part. In this method, depth of LDIE was measured by the accuracy of ±0.01μm; therefore accurate measurement of the wastage can be improved.