Abstract
Single, short (5s) compressive stress cycles on sealed fuel cladding tubes previously equilibrated with either I 2 or Cs/Cd produced stress corrosion cracks. This observation strongly implies no incubation time is required for SCC of Zircaloy in these environments. The SCC susceptibility of Zircaloy varied with texture or orientation of the basal plane; no correlation with second phase inclusion or chemical inhomogeneities has been found at the sites of crack initiation. These results support the hypothesis that the chemical corrodent weakens the Zr-Zr bonds at the crack tip through a reduction in the surface energy and thus allows cracking at stresses well below the normal rupture stress for Zircaloy.
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