• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.178-188
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• 2003

The wear of steam generator tubes is due to the vibration occurred between tubes and tube supporters. To predict the future wear depth, the wear constants of the impact and the sliding model is used. The wear constants, 3C/2 and K/3H, are found inversely from known wear depth and time. Using these constants, the future wear depths are found from two bodies that deform the elliptical shape. The results are compared with the measured wear depth of steam generator tubes in a nuclear power plant. The results show that the predicted wear depth envelopes the measured wear depth.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.313-323
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• 2003

The sliding wear behaviors of Zircaloy-4 nuclear fuel rod were investigated using two support springs with convex and concave shapes in room temperature air and water. The main focus is to compare the wear behavior of various test variables such as slip amplitude, environment, contact contours with different spring shape and a number of cycles. The results indicated that wear volume and maximum wear depth increased with slip amplitude in both air and water, but their trends tended to change according to the spring shapes and test environments. In air condition, the wear volume was controlled by wear debris behavior generated on worn surface. As a result, final wear volume and maximum wear depth decreased if a ratio of protruded wear volume to worn area $(D_p)$ would be saturated to specific value. This is because wear particle layer could accommodate large strain by accumulating and transforming wear particle layer. However, in water condition, metal-to metal contact was more dominant and wear volume was greatly affected by changed mechanical behavior between contact surfaces since wear debris should be generated after repeated plastic deformation and fracture. After wear test, worn surfaces were examined using optical microscope and SEM and details of wear mechanism were discussed using a ratio of wear volume to worn area $(D_e)$ at each test condition.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.31-36
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• 2004

In this paper, fretting wear tests were conducted in air at room temperature (RT) and in water at high temperature and high pressure (HTHP) environment to analyze the wear characteristic. As for the supporting condition between the tube and spring/dimple, the gap of 0.2 mm in air at RT and the normal force of 10 N and the slip of $50\;{\mu}\;m$ in water at HTHP were applied. Four different shapes of spring/dimple specimen (type A, B, C, D) were used. Detail eaxamination of wear scar was also performed using SEM micrographs. As a result, in the case of the spring of truncated wedge, severer wear occurs than the others. Protrusion part was found and larger in air at RT. It is thought that the difference in the wear volume and the protrusion is caused by the different wear mechanism corresponding to the different environment.