Indentation Tensile Properties of Seawater Piping with Cavitation and Immersion Degradation

Seawater has been used to cool devices in nuclear power plants. However, the pipes used to transport seawater are vulnerable to corrosion; hence, the inner side of pipelines is coated with an epoxy layer as prevention. Upon coating damage, the pipe becomes exposed, and corrosion progresses. The major cause is widely known as cavitation corrosion, causing the degradation of mechanical properties. In this study, corroded specimens were prepared using cavitation and immersion methods to clarify the degradation trend of mechanical properties with corrosion. Three different types of epoxy coatings were used, and accelerated cavitation procedures were composed of amplitudes of 15 mu m, 50 mu m, and 85 mu m for 2 h, 4 h, and 6 h. The immersion periods were 3 and 6 weeks. We conducted instrumented indentation tests on all degradation samples to measure mechanical properties. The results showed that higher cavitation amplitudes and longer cavitation or immersion times led to more degradation in the samples, which, in turn, decreased the yield strength. Of the three samples, the C coating had the highest resistance to cavitation and immersion degradation.