Narrow Results

Cr coating on Zr-based fuel tubes is a potential approach for the development of accident tolerant fuels (ATF). To settle the cracking behavior and quantitative evaluation of shear strength of Cr coating under different loading conditions, the average shear strength between Cr coating and zircaloy substrate has been estimated using a modified shear-lag model in this paper. Its key parameters are determined experimentally, and the tensile method has been used to research the cracking behavior of Cr coating under different strain rates. The results show that with the increase of strain rate, the interfacial shear strength increases because of the decrease of cracking spacing, while the shear strength changes erratically with the coating thickness increases. Furthermore, abundant two unequal-crack-spacings and few two equal-crack-spacings are observed which are perpendicular to the loading direction.

In water cooled reactors, the friction between spacer grid and fuel rod can lead to severe wear and it is an important topic to study. In the present study, sliding wear behavior of zirconium alloy was investigated in water and dry state using the pin-on-disc sliding wear tester. Sliding wear resistance of zirconium alloy against heat treated inconel alloy was examined at room temperature. The parameters in this study were sliding velocity, axial load and sliding distance. The wear characteristics of zirconium alloy was evaluated by friction coefficient, specific wear rate and wear volume. The micro-mechanisms responsible for wear in zirconium alloy were identified to be micro-cutting, micro-pitting, delamination and micro-cracking of deformed surface zone.

Dynamic deformation evolution of zirconium alloy impacted by split Hopkinson pressure bar was investigated through an experimental design in this paper. Four different strains of zirconium alloy are subjected to impact loading at the same strain rate, through the design of strain stopper rings. In conditions of increasing strain, the uniform plastic deformation, deformed bands, transformed bands and macro-cracks play an important role in the sequential dynamic deformation of the zirconium alloy. With accordance to the characterization of the deformed microstructures at different strain levels, the dynamic deformation evolution of zirconium alloy under impact loading is proposed.