Abstract
The work is devoted to the study of the laws of the formation of a hydride rim in E110 zirconium alloy claddings during gas-phase hydrogenation. The problem of hydrogen penetration and accumulation and the subsequent formation of hydrides in the volume of zirconium cladding tubes of water-cooled power reactors remain relevant. The formation of brittle hydrides in a zirconium matrix firstly, leads to a significant change in the mechanical properties, and secondly, can cause the destruction of the claddings by the mechanism of delayed hydride cracking. The degree of the hydride’s effect on the mechanical properties of zirconium cladding is mainly determined by the features of the hydride’s distribution and orientation. The problem of hydride rim formation in zirconium alloys with niobium is quite new and poorly studied. Therefore, the study of hydride rim formation in Russian zirconium alloy is important and necessary for predicting the behavior of claddings during the formation of the hydride rim.
Highlights
Zirconium alloys are widely used in nuclear reactors [1,2,3,4,5], as zirconium alloys possess a low thermal neutron capture cross-section; they are characterized by corrosion resistance, good strength properties, and resistance to radiation damage
Rim formation takes place at the temperature 320 ◦ C, while, at the temperature 380 ◦ C, the hydride rim is practically not observed, and at the temperature 420 ◦ C, the hydride rim is not present. This is explained by the following: hydride rim formation takes place in the cases where the hydrogen solubility in the thin layer of zirconium alloy during hydrogenation is exceeded and the hydrogen absorption rate is higher than the hydrogen diffusion rate in relation to the observed thin layer
It is worth noting that the observed features of temperature value of hydride rim formation in ~100 ◦ C, which is related to the significant increase of the hydride distribution behavior throughout the zirconium cladding volume correlate to the data the hydrogen absorption rate
Summary
Zirconium alloys are widely used in nuclear reactors [1,2,3,4,5], as zirconium alloys possess a low thermal neutron capture cross-section; they are characterized by corrosion resistance, good strength properties, and resistance to radiation damage. During hydrogenation at the temperatures higher than the threshold temperature, the formation of a hydride rim does not take place In this respect, there is a necessity to determine the threshold temperature of gas-phase hydrogenation that enables the formation of the hydride rim in E110 alloy fuel claddings developed for the Russian water-cooled nuclear reactors. There is a necessity to determine the threshold temperature of gas-phase hydrogenation that enables the formation of the hydride rim in E110 alloy fuel claddings developed for the Russian water-cooled nuclear reactors Another factor that affects the degree of the zirconium alloy’s hydrogenation is their surface state—namely, oxide film [20,21]. Zirconium alloy surface cleaning will lead to an increase of the hydrogen absorption rate; in turn, the latter will cause changes in the values of the threshold temperature of hydride rim formation. The relevance of the work is primarily due to the need to develop a technique that will allow, under controlled conditions, the preparation of samples of E110 zirconium alloy with a hydride rim for further mechanical tests
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