Steady-State Creep of Zircaloy-4 Fuel Cladding From 940 to 1873 deg K

Steady-state creep rates of as-received Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding have determined from 940-1073 deg K in the alpha -Zr range, from 1140-1190 deg K the mixed ( alpha + beta ) phase region and from 1273-1873 deg K in the beta -Zr phase region. Strain rates of between 10--6 and 10--2/s were determined u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of nuclear materials 1979-07, Vol.82 (2), p.286-297
Main Authors: Rosinger, H E, Bera, P C, Clendening, W R
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Steady-state creep rates of as-received Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding have determined from 940-1073 deg K in the alpha -Zr range, from 1140-1190 deg K the mixed ( alpha + beta ) phase region and from 1273-1873 deg K in the beta -Zr phase region. Strain rates of between 10--6 and 10--2/s were determined under constant uniaxial load conditions. Assuming that creep rates can be described by a power law-Arrhenius equation, the creep rate for alpha -phase Zircaloy-4 is given by: epsilon ss = 2000 sigma 5.32 exp(--284 600 /kT)s--1; for the beta -phase Zircaloy-4 by: epsilon ss = 8.1 sigma 3.79 exp(--142 300 kT)s--1; and for the mixed ( alpha + beta ) phase of (for creep rates < = 3 x 10--3 s--1) by: epsilon ss = 6.8 x 10--3 sigma 1.8 exp(--56 600/kT)s--1. For both alpha and beta phases, the activation energies for creep are in agreement with those of self-diffusion. For the mixed ( alpha + beta ) phase region, the low creep rate range is controlled by grain boundary sliding at the alpha /( alpha + beta ) phase boundary.39 refs.--AA
ISSN:0022-3115