Resistance of Ferritic FeCrAl Alloys to Stress Corrosion Cracking for Light Water Reactor Fuel Cladding Applications

Since 2011, the international nuclear materials community has been engaged in finding replacements for zirconium alloys fuel cladding for light water reactors. Iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys are cladding candidates because they have high strength at high temperature and an extraordinary resi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Corrosion (Houston, Tex.) Tex.), 2020-11, Vol.76 (11)
Main Authors: Rebak, Raul B., Yin, Liang, Andresen, Peter L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alloys
Aluminium
Aluminum
Austenitic stainless steels
Boiling water reactors
Chloride
Chromium
Cladding
Cold
Corrosion
Corrosion resistance
Crack propagation
Cracking (corrosion)
Ferritic stainless steels
Ferrous alloys
Fuel cycles
Fuels
Heat resistance
High temperature
Light water reactors
Loss of coolant accidents
Nitrates
Nuclear engineering
Nuclear fuels
Nuclear power plants
Nuclear reactors
Powder metallurgy
Reactors
Stainless steel
Steam
Stress corrosion
Stress corrosion cracking
Temperature
Zirconium
Zirconium alloys
Zirconium base alloys
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Summary:Since 2011, the international nuclear materials community has been engaged in finding replacements for zirconium alloys fuel cladding for light water reactors. Iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys are cladding candidates because they have high strength at high temperature and an extraordinary resistance to attack by superheated steam in the event of a loss of coolant accident. As FeCrAl alloys have never been used in nuclear reactors, it is important to characterize their behavior in the entire fuel cycle. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) studies were conducted for two FeCrAl alloys (APMT and C26M) in typical simulated boiling water reactor conditions at 288°C containing either dissolved hydrogen or oxygen. Crack propagation studies showed that both ferritic FeCrAl alloys were resistant to SCC at stress intensities below 40 MPa√m. Current results for FeCrAl confirm previous findings for Fe-Cr alloys showing that ferritic stainless alloys are generally much more resistant to high-temperature water SCC than austenitic stainless steels.
ISSN:0010-9312
1938-159X
DOI:10.5006/3632