Nanoindentation and the Micromechanics of Zry-4

Zircaloy-4 is widely used to contain fuel in light water reactors. During service at around 33 degree C, corrosion occurs at the cladding/water interface producing hydrogen, which diffuses into the zirconium alloy. As hydrogen content increases beyond the room temperature solubility, hydrides precip...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIP conference proceedings 2012-03
Main Authors: Evans, Christabel, Lindley, Trevor, Dye, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Zircaloy-4 is widely used to contain fuel in light water reactors. During service at around 33 degree C, corrosion occurs at the cladding/water interface producing hydrogen, which diffuses into the zirconium alloy. As hydrogen content increases beyond the room temperature solubility, hydrides precipitate on cooling leading to brittleness in the material. In addition, if a stressed crack is present hydrogen can migrate to the crack tip, promoting crack propagation. This delayed hydride cracking phenomenon is of concern for dry storage of present generation irradiated fuel. Little is known about the micromechanics of hydrides at the individual plate level and therefore in the present study nanoindentation is used to characterise the mechanical properties of individual hydride plates in a sheaf and how they interact with the surrounding matrix. Post-indentation TEM has been used to investigate dislocation arrays across the hydride and at each indent.
ISSN:0094-243X