[KSCI] Korea Science Citation Index Service

Mechanism of Environmentally-Induced Stress Corrosion Cracking of Zr-Alloys

Park, Sang Yoon (Advanced Core Materials Lab. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Kim, Jun Hwan (Advanced Core Materials Lab. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Choi, Byung Kwon (Advanced Core Materials Lab. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Jeong, Yong Hwan (Advanced Core Materials Lab. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)

Publication Information

Corrosion Science and Technology / v.6, no.4, 2007 , pp. 170-176 More about this Journal

Abstract

Iodine-induced stress corrosion cracking (ISCC) properties and the associated ISCC process of Zircaloy-4 and an Nb-containing advanced nuclear fuel cladding were evaluated. An internal pressurization test with a pre-cracked specimen was performed with a stress-relieved (SR) or recrystallized (RX) microstructure at $350^{\circ}C$ , in an iodine environment. The results showed that the $K_{ISCC}$ of the SR and RX Zircaloy-4 claddings were 3.3 and $4.8MPa\;m^{0.5}$ , respectively. And the crack propagation rate of the RX Zircaloy-4 was 10 times lower than that of the SR one. The chemical effect of iodine on the crack propagation rate was very high, which was increased $10^4$ times by iodine addition. Main factor affecting on the micro-crack nucleation was a pitting formation and its agglomeration along the grain boundary. However, this pitting formation on the grain-boundary was suppressed in the case of an Nb addition, which resulted in an increase of the ISCC resistance when compared to Zircaloy-4. Crack initiation and propagation mechanisms of fuel claddings were proposed by a grain boundary pitting model and a pitting assisted slip cleavage model and they showed reasonable results.

Keywords

Iodine-induced stress corrosion cracking (ISCC); Zircaloy-4; Crack initiation; propagation; Threshold stress-intensity factor ( $K_{ISCC}$ ); grain boundary pitting;

Citations & Related Records

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