• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1663-1668
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• 2012

A spacer grid, which is one of the structural components in a PWR fuel, is an interconnected array of slotted grid straps that are welded at the intersections to form an egg-crate structure. The spacer grid is required to have sufficient lateral crush strength to enable nuclear reactor shut-down during abnormal operating environments. Previous studies on the lateral crush strength analysis of the spacer grid were performed using only the base material properties. In this study, to investigate the effect of the lateral crush strength of the spacer grid when using the mechanical properties in the weld zone instead of the base material properties, lateral crush strength analysis by considering the mechanical properties in the weld zone as obtained from the instrumented indentation technique was performed, and the results were compared with those of previous studies.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.51-56
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• 2012

Different microstructures in the weld zone of a metal structure including a fusion zone and heat affected zone are formed as compared to the base material. Thus, the mechanical properties in the weld zone are different from those in the base material. As the basic data for reliably understanding the structural characteristics of welded nuclear material, the mechanical properties in the weld zone and base material for a Zircaloy-4 strap and Hastelloy${(R)}$-X alloy strap are measured using an instrumented indentation technique (IIT) in this study.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.9
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• pp.1095-1101
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• 2012

A process heat exchanger (PHE) in a nuclear hydrogen system is a key component that transfers the large amount of heat generated in a very high temperature reactor (VHTR) to a chemical reaction that yields a large quantity of hydrogen. A performance test on a small-scale and a medium-scale PHE prototype made of Hastelloy$^{(R)}$-X is being conducted on in a small-scale nitrogen gas loop at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Previous research on the macroscopic high-temperature structural analysis of PHE prototypes had been performed using base material properties owing to a lack of weld material properties. In this study, macroscopic high-temperature structural analyses considering the weld material properties were performed and the results were compared with those of a previous study.