2012, Volume 15, Issue 1
Stress Corrosion Cracking Behaviour of Candu Fuel Claddings
1 Institute for Nuclear Research, Campului Street, No. 1, POB 78, 115400, Mioveni, Arges, Romania
2 Materials Sciences and Engineering Department, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 103-105 Muncii ave., 400641 Cluj Napoca, Romania
*Corresponding author: Alice Dinu, E-mail: alice.dinu@nuclear.ro
Published: May 2012Abstract
With the aim to study the stress corrosion behaviour of CANDU fuel claddings, hydrided (hydrogen contents between 100 and 350ppm) and non-hydrided Zircaloy-4 samples were tested in presence of the iodine vapours at 3200C. The C-ring method was used to stress the samples. The estimation made with the ANSYS code at 3200C showed that the maximum values of the equivalent stress and the total deformation present in the stressed C-ring samples are 300MPa and, respectively, 2.7%. Considering that the hydrides pellets are preferential sites for initiation of SCC cracks, using the specialized program FEA-CRACK for fracture mechanics, it was calculated the stress intensity factor along the front of the hydride. The maximum value of stress intensity factor is achieved at border of hydride (KISCC = 4.51MPaÖm). Also, to be able to make a comparison between the alloy without hydrogen and alloy with different hydrogen contents, in FEA-CRACK computations it was use a model for pre-fissure obtained after the chemical attack under tension performed at room temperature in methyl alcohol solution with 50g/l iodine. In this case, the maximum stress intensity factor is 1.63MPaÖm. By optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy methods it was put in evidence the trans-granular character of SCC cracks.
Keywords
CANDU fuel claddings, hydride Zircaloy-4, iodine SCC, stress intensity factor.
Tag search CANDU fuel claddings hydride Zircaloy-4 iodine SCC stress intensity factor
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