The Effect of TiN and CrN Coatings on the Fretting Wear of Tubes against Supports in a Nuclear Steam Generators

The nuclear steam generator is composed of a bundle of tubes. The length of these tubes is very long, but their diameter is small. Fluid exists inside of the steam generator and its flow causes vibration, therefore these tubes are supported by anti-vibration bars. The wear damage due to the vibration is known as fretting wear, which should be minimized to ensure the safety of the plants. Research needs to be done about decreasing the amount of fretting wear. Hard coatings have proven to be very effective in reducing the amount of wear. The commercial coatings of TiN and CrN have excellent wear resistance and are used to protect the Inconel tube from fretting wear. The tube-on-flat type tester was used for conducting the fretting wear tests. It was found that the wear amounts of the coated tubes decreased depending on the coating thickness. CrN was found to be very effective in reducing the wear, while the wear amounts were dependent on the coating thickness in the case of TiN and a thick coating of TiN was very effective on wear resistance.