Study about Stress-Strain Properties with Mini Specimen and Microstructure of Nuclear Fuel Element Cladding of Al-Alloy (98% Al + 1% Fe + 1% Ni) after Being Tempered at Temperatures between (100 – 650) °C

Abstract

Stress-strain properties with mini specimen and micro structure of nuclear fuel elements cladding of Al-alloy (98% Al + 1% Fe + 1% Ni) after tempered at temperatures (100-650) °C, for 1 hour have been studied. Al-alloy (98% Al + 1% Fe + 1% Ni) was made for cladding nuclear fuel elements of research reactor. Al-alloy (98% Al + 1% Fe + 1% Ni) as cladding material has been on the rollers and then made a mini specimen tensile test samples. The mini specimen tensile test samples were tempered at temperatures of (100-650) °C, respectively 1 hour. Samples were tested to determine properties of tensile stress-strain with a mini-tensile test specimen. The tensile test equipment can attract maximum sample 5 kN, Shimadzu Autograph AGS-brand artificial 5kN, made in Japan. Then the samples were broken section micro structure observed by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope). Quantitative results showed that the higher the tempering temperature, the maximum stress is decreased. The higher the tempering temperature cleavage fracture increasingly overlaps (small). This is due to the self-diffusion of Al atoms in the material when the sample tempered at (100-650) °C, for 1 hour. Observation of the microstructure by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) was visible presence of porosity in the sample.