Radial-hydride Embrittlement of High-burnup Zircaloy-4 Fuel Cladding

Prestorage drying operations of high-burnup fuel may make Zircaloy-4 (Zry-4) fuel cladding more susceptible to failure, especially during fuel handling, transport, and post-storage retrieval. In particular, hydride precipitates may reorient from the circumferential to the radial direction of the cla...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of nuclear science and technology 2006-09, Vol.43 (9), p.1054
Main Authors: DAUM, Robert, MAJUMDAR, Saurin, LIU, Yung, BILLONE, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
EMBRITTLEMENT
FUELS
MATERIALS SCIENCE
ZIRCALOY 4
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Summary:Prestorage drying operations of high-burnup fuel may make Zircaloy-4 (Zry-4) fuel cladding more susceptible to failure, especially during fuel handling, transport, and post-storage retrieval. In particular, hydride precipitates may reorient from the circumferential to the radial direction of the cladding during drying operations if a threshold level of hoop stress at or above a corresponding threshold temperature is exceeded. This study indicates that the threshold stress is approximately 75-80 MPa for both nonirradiated and high-burnup stress-relieved Zry-4 fuel cladding cooled from 400[Degree]C and, under ring compression at both room temperature and 150[Degree]C, that radial-hydride precipitation embrittles Zry-4. Specifically, the plastic tensile hoop strain needed to initiate unstable crack propagation along radial hydrides decreases dramatically from >8% to 600 wppm), like that found in high-burnup Zry-4.
ISSN:0022-3131
1881-1248
DOI:10.3327/jnst.43.1054