A Review of Aging Effects in Alloy 617 for Gen IV Nuclear Reactor Applications

The literature was reviewed of aging and aging effects in Alloy 617 to determine the supplementary data needed to understand the response of the alloy to long-time exposure conditions being considered for structural components in Gen IV nuclear reactors. Most of the data were produced in connection with the international research effort supporting High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) projects in the 1970s and 1980s. Topics considered included microstructural changes, hardness, tensile properties, toughness, creep-rupture, fatigue, and crack growth. It became clear that, for the long-time, very high temperature conditions of the Gen IV reactors, a significant effort would be needed to fully understand and characterize property changes. Several topics for further research were recommended.