Abstract
.Zirconium based alloys are commonly used as material for fuel claddings in the light water reactors. Claddings act as first metallic barriers against loss of fission products during the nuclear power plant operation, intermittent storage or final dry storage. The integrity of claddings is always critical issue during reactor operation and during storage of spent fuel. In this work, ring compression testing method developed was applied to study hydrogen embrittlement, to evaluate the stress-strain behaviour and hoop fracture properties of E110 (Zr-based) fuel claddings. The results show that the collapse load and the tensile strength values depend strongly on hydrogen concentration. In particular, tensile strength experiment data shows significant change in its trend after reaching the maximum hydrogen solubility limit.
Highlights
Zirconium based fuel claddings serve as barrier between the pellets and the fuel rod environment, avoiding the release of fuel or fission products during service into the reactor core or cooling system or after service into storage containments
The results show that the collapse load and the tensile strength values depend strongly on hydrogen concentration
When the hydrogen content in zirconium alloys exceeds the terminal solid solubility limit, diffused hydrogen atoms react with the zirconium matrix and formation of zirconium hydrides occurs [3]
Summary
Zirconium based fuel claddings serve as barrier between the pellets and the fuel rod environment, avoiding the release of fuel or fission products during service into the reactor core or cooling system or after service into storage containments. When the hydrogen content in zirconium alloys exceeds the terminal solid solubility limit, diffused hydrogen atoms react with the zirconium matrix and formation of zirconium hydrides occurs [3]. When the hydrogen solubility limit in zirconium based alloys exceeds, the excess amount of it results in the formation of zirconium hydride as precipitates. These precipitates have been shown to be less ductile than the surrounding zirconium alloy matrix, so can have deleterious effects on the mechanical properties. Current study is focused on evaluating the mechanical properties in the hoop direction of the zirconium based fuel cladding (E110) with different hydrogen contents To determine the best practices for testing irradiated claddings in hot-cells to perform cladding embrittlement studies
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