The report describes important activities of the programme: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Improvement of process flow sheet for 304H Cu SS tubes Indigenous Development Alloy 617 M tubes Indigenous Production of 304HCu SS and Alloy 617 M Tubes and their welding consumables Processing Maps for Alloy 617 M and 304HCu SS Microstructural studies on imported alloys Development of welding procedure Evaluation of mechanical properties of the alloys and welds

Detailed Microstructural Characterization In the first meeting of the review committee, it was suggested by the reviewers that the microstructure of the imported alloys should be studied in detail and compared with the indigenously developed alloys. It is very heartening to note this has now been done. In case of both the alloys the imported alloys were also examined and the microstructures of the indigenous and the imported alloys have been compared in terms of grain size, segregation, second phase particles, dislocation density and arrangement and a reasonably good similarity could be seen. The dispersion of the second phase particles was found to be finer in the case of the indigenous 304HCuSS alloy. These detailed microstructural characterization has been done using TEM based imaging and spectroscopy techniques besides other techniques. Calorimetric studies have also been carried out to establish the precipitation regimes of the second phase particles. Improvement in process flow sheet for 304H Cu SS tubes: A detailed microstructural characterization of the 304H Cu SS tubes made by the initially developed flow sheet had shown coarse niobium rich precipitates. The volume fraction of these precipitates needed to be reduced in order to minimise the deleterious effect of these. Any heat treatment aimed at reducing their volume fraction would also lead to grain coarsening in the matrix. Therefore, there was a need to evolve a suitable time-temperature treatment to achieve a balance between precipitate dissolution and grain coarsening. These treatments have been interspersed in the existing flow sheet. A solution annealing step has been introduced to reduce the volume fraction of the carbides and the intermediate annealing temperature and time has been adjusted to reduce grain coarsening. Indigenous Development of Alloy 617 M Tubes In the earlier flow sheet the final product had bands of second phase particles and inter-granular precipitates. The time and temperatures of solution annealing and intermediate annealing temperatures have been now adjusted to mitigate this. With the aforementioned modification in the flow sheets which are based on detailed microstructural characterizations, the indigenous production of the 304HCu SS and Alloy 617M tubes and their welding consumables have been carried out. Processing Maps for Alloy 617M and 304HCu SS

Optimisation of the process parameters during the fabrication steps leads to a better microstructure control. This is facilitated if regimes of strain rate and temperature in which different microstructural evolution mechanism work are identified. The processing maps have been developed for both the alloys using the Dynamic Materials Modelling Approach. It should be noted that there should be some similarity in the characteristics of the lubricants used during these tests with the actual lubricants used and also the state of stress during the actual process should not be very different from those during the testing of the material in the Gleeble machine. With the aforementioned precautions the Gleeble data can be usefully correlated with the actual process. Welding of the alloys The welding procedure for the two alloys for similar and dissimilar joints has been identified and different types of filler rod materials have been tried which comprised besides the two alloys, Alloy 625. This involved weld procedure specification (WPS), weld procedure qualification (WPQ) record and production of weld joints for metallurgical characterization and evaluation of mechanical properties. Mechanical property evaluation Tensile properties of weld joints, creep properties of weld joints, fatigue and fracture properties of the tubes have been evaluated. Concluding remarks It can be said that with completion of the aforementioned tasks, the indigenous development of the two alloys and their joining techniques have reached a level of maturity from which it will be possible to proceed for their regular production and application of the products in the test loops and ultimately in the plants. Needless to state that the evaluation of long term properties like creep should be continued because at the moment the results available are from short term tests. Any adverse feedback from these long term tests should be addressed. The whole team needs to be commended for their extraordinary efforts.