• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.250-254
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• 2008

The steam generator of nuclear power plant is composed with the bundles of long tubes. It is exposed fluid flow and weak in the vibration. The tubes are supported by anti-vibration bars. Due to vibration the wear damage is called as the fretting wear. It should be minimized for the safety of the plants. The hard coatings are very effective to reduce the amount of wear. The coatings of TiN and CrN are introduced in this study to protect the fretting surfaces. The tube-on-flat type tester was used for fretting wear tests. The results show that the wear amounts of the coated tubes were decreased depending on coating thickness. CrN was very effective to reduce the wear. In case of TiN the wear amounts were dependent on the coating thickness. Thick coating of TiN was very effective for wear resistance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.329-336
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• 2009

A fretting wear test rig for cross contacting tube specimens, which employs a piezoelectric actuator, has been developed. Along with the simple loading scheme using dead weights, the rig is very simple to be used also. The accuracy was found acceptable. Inconel 690 tubes were tested in room temperature and ambient condition. Normal load and sliding amplitude range up to 35N and $100{\mu}m$, respectively. The sizes of wear scar and the wear volumes were measured, and wear coefficients have been calculated based on those. A study on the fretting wear mechanism of the tubes has been attempted via microscopic observation. Rugged wear surfaces are induced by the separation and adhesion of particles and formation and subsequent fracture of surface layers. Lapped specimens were also tested and abrasive wear seems to be playing a dominant role.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2581-2589
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• 2002

In this research, fretting tests were conducted in air to investigate the wear characteristics of fuel cladding materials with the fretting parameters such as normal load, slip amplitude, frequency and the number of cycles. A high frequency fretting wear tester was designed for this experiment by KAERI. After the experiments, the wear volume and the shape of wear contour were measured by the surface roughness tester. Tribologically transformed structures(TTS) were analysed by means of optical and scanning electron microscopes to identify the main wear mechanisms. The results of this study showed that the wear volume were increased with increasing slip amplitude, and the shape of wear contour was transformed V-type to W-type. Also, it was found that the critical slip amplitude was 168${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. These phenomena mean that wear mechanism transformed partial slip to gross slip to accelerate wear volume. The wear depth increased with an increase of friction coefficient due to increase of normal load and frequency. The fretting wear mechanisms were believed that, after adhesion and surface plastic deformation occurred by relative sliding motion on the contact between two specimens, TTS creation was induced by surface strain hardening and wear debris were detached from the contact surface which were produced by the micro crack propagation and creation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.296-303
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• 2001

In nuclear power steam generators, high flow rates can induce vibration of the tubes resulting in fretting wear damage due to contacts between the tubes and their supports. In this paper the fretting wear tests and the sliding wear tests were performed using the steam generator tube materials of Inconel 690 against STS 304. Sliding tests with the pin-on-disk type tribometer were done under various applied loads and sliding speeds at air and water environment. Fretting tests were done under various vibrating amplitudes, applied normal loads and various temperatures. From the results of sliding and fretting wear tests, the wear of Inconel 690 can be predictable using the work rate model. Depending on normal loads and vibrating amplitudes, distinctively different wear mechanisms and often drastically different wear rates can occur. At room temperature, the wear coefficient K of Inconel 690 is 7.57${\times}$10$\^$13/Pa$\^$1/ in air and it is 1.93${\times}$10$\^$13/Pa$\^$1/ in water. At room temperature, it is found that the wear volume in air is more than in water. In water, the wear coefficient K at 50$^{\circ}C$ and 80$^{\circ}C$ is 4.35${\times}$10$\^$-13/Pa$^1$ and 5.81${\times}$10$\^$-13/Pa$^1$ respectively, Therefore, it is found that the wear volume extremely increases by increasing on temperature in water. This study shows that the dissolved oxygen with temperature increment increases and the wear due to fluidity is severe.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1361-1366
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• 2008

Failure mechanism of the poor contact is analyzed on the basis of used connectors and this poor contact of connectors is reappeared by the new forced fretting wear method. As the result of failure analysis and reappearance, fretting wear and corrosion of the contact interface causes the contact resistance degradation and the poor contact of connectors. The amount of degradation depends on the fretting stroke. Changes in contact resistance of static contacts are likely to be small and gradual, while motions of contact interface may result in larger and discontinuous changes in resistance and voltage. This voltage drop by fretting motions is large enough to cause the distortion of sensor signal and mis-working of electric components.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.250-255
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• 2009

Oxidation characteristics of Zirlo and Zircaloy-4 tubes, which are widely used as nuclear power fuel cladding, are studied in steam environment up to $1200^{\circ}C$. Oxidation resistances are compared in terms of the mass increase due to the absorption of oxygen. The evolution of microscopic structure accompanied with the oxidation process is investigated. Also, the influence of oxidation on the fretting wear characteristics of the tubes is studied. Piezo-electrically actuated rig is employed to fret the tubes with cross-contacting arrangement. Wear scar is observed and measured, by using microscopes and a 3D-profiler. The results of fretting wear are quantified in terms of scar size, wear volume and wear coefficient, and compared for the three different tube materials of oxidated Zirlo, virgin Zirlo and Zircaloy-4.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.89-95
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• 2001

The fretting wear characteristics of Zircaloy-4 tube at room and high temperature were Investigated experimentally. In this study, the number of cycles, slip amplitude and temperature were selected as main factors of fretting wear. The results of this research showed that the wear volume Increased with the Increase of slip amplitudes and the number of cycles but decreased with temperature and the coefficient of friction were observed different tendency between room and high temperature. According to SEM(EDS) only gross slip were observed on the surface of both specimens and compacted oxide were on worn surfaces. XRO patterns showed that the crystallization of ZrO$_2$ were observed on the worn surface at high temperature. The fretting wear were Investigated due to oxidation and accumulation of plastic flow.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1083-1092
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• 2007

The objective of the present paper is to evaluate the effect of the evolution of contact surface profile caused by fretting wear on fatigue life of press-fitted shaft by means of an analytical method based on experimental data. A finite element analysis was performed to analyze the stress states of press-fitted shaft, considering the worn contact profiles of shaft. The fatigue lives of the press-fitted shaft reflecting the evolution of contact stress induced by fretting wear were evaluated by stress-life approach using fatigue notch factor. It is found that the stress concentration of contact edge in press-fitted shaft decreases rapidly at the initial stage of total fatigue life, and its location shifts from the contact edge to the inside with increasing number of fatigue cycles. Thus the change of crack nucleation position in press-fitted shaft is mainly caused by the stress change of contact edge due to the evolution of contact surface profile by fretting wear. Furthermore, the estimated fatigue lives by stress-life approach at the end of running-in period of the fretting wear process corresponded well to the experimental results. It is thus suggested that the effect of fretting wear on fatigue life in press fits is strongly related to the evolution of surface profile at the initial stage of total fatigue life.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.919-924
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• 2005

Fretting-wear caused by turbulence excitation for KSNP(Korea standard nuclear power plant) steam generator is investigated numerically. Secondary sides density and normal velocity are obtained by the thermal-hydraulic data of the steam generator. Because nonlinear finite element analysis is complex and time consuming, work rate is estimated by using linear analysis for simple straight 2-span tube. Wear volume and depth by using work rate calculation are estimated. Span length, secondary side fluid density and normal velocity are adopted to study the effects on the fretting-wear by turbulence excitation. When secondary sides density and normal velocity is increased, It turns out that secondary side density and normal gap velocity are very important paramater for fretting-wear phenomena of the steam generator.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.132-141
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• 2002

The effects of microstructure on fretting wear were investigated in Inconel 690 tube. The microstructure observation indicated that the solution annealing temperature and time affected the grain size of the Inconel 690 tubes. The carbide morphology, along grain boundaries, was mainly affected by thermal treatment time and temperature. The wear test results showed that specimens with larger grain size and with coarse carbides along grain boundaries had better wear resistance. Cracks were found in specimens with carbides along the grain boundary, while few cracks were found in carbide free specimens. It seemed that the carbides on grain boundary assisted crack formation and propagation in carbide containing specimens. On the other hand, the micro-hardness of specimen did not have a major role in fretting wear. It could be inferred from the SEM images of worn surfaces that the main wear mechanism of carbide containing specimen was delamination, while that of carbide free specimen was abrasion.