• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권2호
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• pp.218-222
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• 2018

An oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) layer was formed on Zircaloy-4 tubes by a laser beam scanning process to increase mechanical strength. Laser beam was used to scan the yttrium oxide ($Y_2O_3$)-coated Zircaloy-4 tube to induce the penetration of $Y_2O_3$ particles into Zircaloy-4. Laser surface treatment resulted in the formation of an ODS layer as well as microstructural phase transformation at the surface of the tube. The mechanical strength of Zircaloy-4 increased with the formation of the ODS layer. The ring-tensile strength of Zircaloy-4 increased from 790 to 870 MPa at room temperature, from 500 to 575 MPa at $380^{\circ}C$, and from 385 to 470 MPa at $500^{\circ}C$. Strengthening became more effective as the test temperature increased. It was noted that brittle fracture occurred at room temperature, which was not observed at elevated temperatures. Resistance to dynamic high-temperature bursting improved. The burst temperature increased from 760 to $830^{\circ}C$ at a heating rate of $5^{\circ}C/s$ and internal pressure of 8.3 MPa. The burst opening was also smaller than those in fresh Zircaloy-4 tubes. This method is expected to enhance the safety of Zr fuel cladding tubes owing to the improvement of their mechanical properties.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권2호
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• pp.99-106
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• 2008

Through mechanical alloying, hot isostatic pressing and hot rolling, a 9%Cr Fe-based oxide dispersion-strengthened alloy sample was fabricated. The tensile strength of the alloy is significantly improved when the microstructure is modified during the post-consolidation process. The alloy samples were strengthened as the cooling rates increased, though the elongation was somewhat reduced. With a cooling rate of $800^{\circ}C/s$ after normalization at $1150^{\circ}C$, the alloy sample showed a tensile strength of 1450 MPa, which is about twice that of the hot rolled sample; however, at $600^{\circ}C$ the tensile strength dramatically decreased to 620 MPa. Optical microscope and transmission electron microscope were used to investigate the microstructural changes of the specimens. The resultant strengthening of the alloy sample could be mainly attributed to the interstitially dissolved nitrogen, the fraction of the tempered martensite, the fine grain and the presence of a smaller precipitate. The decrease in the tensile strength was mainly caused by the precipitation of vanadium-rich nitride.

• 한국분말재료학회지
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.275-279
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• 2013

Fe-based oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) powders were produced by high energy ball milling, followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS) for consolidation. The mixed powders of 84Fe-14Cr-$2Y_2O_3$ (wt%) were mechanically milled for 10 and 90 mins, and then consolidated at different temperatures ($900{\sim}1100^{\circ}C$). Mechanically-Alloyed (MAed) particles were examined by means of cross-sectional images using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Both mechanical alloying and sintering behavior was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). To confirm the thermal behavior of $Y_2O_3$, a replica method was applied after the SPS process. From the SEM observation, MAed powders milled for 10 min showed a lamella structure consisting of rich regions of Fe and Cr, while both regions were fully alloyed after 90 min. The results of sintering behavior clearly indicate that as the SPS temperature increased, micro-sized defects decreased and the density of consolidated ODS alloys increased. TEM images revealed that precipitates smaller than 50 nm consisted of $YCrO_3$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.521-528
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• 2014

The surface modification of engineering materials by laser beam scanning (LBS) allows the improvement of properties in terms of reduced wear, increased corrosion resistance, and better strength. In this study, the laser beam scan method was applied to produce an oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) structure on a zirconium metal surface. A recrystallized Zircaloy-4 alloy sheet with a thickness of 2 mm, and $Y_2O_3$ particles of $10{\mu}m$ were selected for ODS treatment using LBS. Through the LBS method, the $Y_2O_3$ particles were dispersed in the Zircaloy-4 sheet surface at a thickness of 0.4 mm, which was about 20% when compared to the initial sheet thickness. The mean size of the dispersive particles was 20 nm, and the yield strength of the ODS treated plate at $500^{\circ}C$ was increased more than 65 % when compared to the initial state. This strength increase was caused by dispersive $Y_2O_3$ particles in the matrix and the martensite transformation of Zircaloy-4 matrix by the LBS.

• 열처리공학회지
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.138-145
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• 2012

An ${\alpha}$-Ferrite (Fe) powder dispersed with 4 vol.% of $Al_2O_3$ was successfully produced by a simple miling at 210 K with a mixture of $Fe_2O_3$, Fe and Al ingredient powders, followed by 2 step high temperature consolidation: Hot Pressing (HP) at 1323 K and then Hot Isostatic Pressing at 1423 K. The microstructure of the consolidated material was characterized by standard metallographic techniques such as XRD (X-ray Diffraction), TEM and STEM-EDS. The results of STEM-EDS analysis showed that the HIPed materials comprised a mixture of pure Fe matrix with a grain size of ~20 nm and $Al_2O_3$ with a bimodal size distribution of extremely fine (~5 nm) and medium size dispersoids (~20 nm). The mechanical properties of the consolidated materials were characterized by compressive test and micro Vickers hardness test at room temperature. The results showed that the yield strength of the ODS (Oxide Dispersion Strengthened) Fe alloy are as much as $674{\pm}39$ MPa and the improvement of the yield strength is attributed to the presence of the fine $Al_2O_3$ dispersoid.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권6호
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• pp.2139-2146
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• 2023

During reactor operation, the divertor must withstand unprecedented simultaneous high heat fluxes and high-energy neutron irradiation. The extremely severe service environment of the divertor imposes a huge challenge to the bonding quality of divertor joints, i.e., the joints must withstand thermal, mechanical and neutron loads, as well as cyclic mode of operation. In this paper, potassium-doped tungsten (KW) is selected as the plasma facing material (PFM), oxygen-free copper (OFC) as the interlayer, oxide dispersion strengthened copper (ODS-Cu) alloy as the heat sink material, and reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steel as the structural material. In this study, a vacuum brazing technology is proposed and optimized to bond Cu and ODS-Cu alloy with the silver-free brazing material CuSnTi. The most appropriate brazing parameters are a brazing temperature of 940 ℃ and a holding time of 15 min. High-quality bonding interfaces have been successfully obtained by vacuum brazing technology, and the average shear strength of the as-obtained KW/Cu and ODS-Cu alloy joints is ~268 MPa. And a fabrication route for manufacturing the flat-type divertor target based on brazing technology is set. For evaluating the reliability of the fabrication technologies under the reactor relevant condition, the high heat flux test at 20 MW/m² for the as-manufactured flat-type KW/Cu/ODS-Cu/RAFM mockup is carried out by using the Electron-beam Material testing Scenario (EMS-60) with water cooling. This paper reports the improved vacuum brazing technology to connect Cu to ODS-Cu alloy and summarizes the production route, high heat flux (HHF) test, the pre and post non-destructive examination, and the surface results of the flat-type KW/Cu/ODS-Cu/RAFM mockup after the HHF test. The test results demonstrate that the mockup manufactured according to the fabrication route still have structural and interfacial integrity under cyclic high heat loads.

• Metals and materials international
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• 제24권6호
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• pp.1309-1314
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• 2018

In this study, we investigated the state of $Y_2O_3$, as a major additive element in Fe-based ODS alloys, during mechanical alloying (MA) processes by thermodynamic approaches and experimental verification. For this purpose, we introduced $Ti_2O_3$ that formed different reaction products depending on the state of $Y_2O_3$ into the Fe-based ODS alloys. In addition, the reaction products of $Ti_2O_3$, Y, and $Y_2O_3$ powders were predicted approximately based on their formation enthalpy. The experimental results relating to the formation of Y-based complex oxides revealed that $YTiO_3$ and $Y_2Ti_2O_7$ were formed when $Ti_2O_3$ reacted with Y; in contrast, only $Y_2Ti_2O_7$ was detected during the reaction between $Ti_2O_3$ and $Y_2O_3$. In the alloy of $Fe-Cr-Y_2O_3$ with $Ti_2O_3$, $YTiO_3$ (formed by the reaction of $Ti_2O_3$ with Y) was detected after the MA and heat treatment processes were complete, even though $Y_2O_3$ was present in the system. Using these results, it was proved that $Y_2O_3$ decomposed into monoatomic Y and O during the MA process.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권7호
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• pp.2376-2385
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• 2022

Two groups of oxide dispersion-strengthened reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels (A and B) were prepared by adding Y, Ti, and Zr into steels through vacuum induction melting to investigate the inclusions, microstructures, mechanical properties of the alloys. Results showed that particles with Y, Ti, and Zr easily formed. Massive, Zr-rich inclusions were found in B steel. Density of micron inclusions in A steel was 1.42 × 10¹⁴ m^-3, and density of nanoparticles was 3.61 × 10¹⁶ m^-3. More and finer MX carbides were found in steel tempered at 650 ℃, and yield strengths (YS) of A and B steel were 714±2 and 664±3.5 MPa. Thermomechanical processing (TMP) retained many dislocations, which improved the mechanical properties. YSs of A and B treated by TMP were 725±3 and 683±4 MPa. The existence of massive Zr-rich inclusions in B steels interrupted the continuity of the matrix and produced microcracks (fracture), which caused a reduction in mechanical properties. The presence of fine prior austenite grain size and inclusions was attributed to the low DBTTs of the A steels; DBTTs of A650 and A700 alloy were -79 and -65 ℃. Tempering temperature reduction and TMP are simple, readily useable methods that can lead to a superior balance of strength and impact toughness in industry applications.