Abstract
A study on the change of mechanical properties and oxidation behavior of Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding after exposing at 90$0^{\circ}C$ and $1000^{\circ}C$ for various periods of exposure time under the steam atmosphere was carried out. The growth of the $ZrO_2$ layer combined with an oxygen-rich-phase layer into the Zircaloy tube material can be described by an expression, E = 1.1√Dt + $2 $\times$ 10^{-4}$ . The tensile strength of Zircaloy tubes increased for a short period of exposure time and decreased rapidly with further exposure while the hoop strength was not decreased greatly. In the meantime, the axial and circumferential elongations of oxidized Zircaloy tubes were decreased drastically with increasing exposure time as a result of embrittlement phenomena.
