• 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.115-121
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• 2001

The wear test has been performed to evaluate the wear mechanism of steam generator (SG) tube materials against ferritic stainless steel in water environment. The wear rates of SG tube materials depend on the change of mechanical properties between contact surfaces during wear test. From the subsurface hardness test, Inconel 690 is more work-hardened than Inconel 600 even though these materials have similar hardness values before the wear test. Main cause is due to the difference of stacking fault energy with the chromium content. In water environment, wear mechanism is closely related with the continuous formation and fracture of deformation layers at the contact surfaces.

• Journal of KSNVE
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.515-524
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• 1995

Tubes in heat exchanger of fuel rods in reactor core are supported at intemediate point by support p0lates or springs. Current practice is, in case of heat exchanger, to allow clearance between tube and support plate for design and manufacturing consideration. And in case of fuel rod the clearance in support point can be generated due to the support spring force relaxation. Flow-induced vibration of a tube can cause it to impact or rub against support plate or against adjacent tubes and can result in fretting-wear. The tube-to- support dynamic interaction is used to relate experimental wear data from single-span test rigs to real multi-span heat exchanger configurations. The dynamic interaction cna be measured during experimental wear tests. However, the dynamic interaction is difficult to measure in real heat exchangers and, therefore, analytical techniques are required to estimate this interaction. This paper describels the nonlinear impact model of DAGS(Dynamic Analysis of Gapped Structure) code which simulates the tube response to external sinusodial or step excitation and predicts tube motion and tube-to-support dynamic interaction. Three experimental measurements-two single span rods excited by sinusodial force and a two span rod impacted by a steel ball are compared from the simulation nonlinear model of DAGS code. The simulation results from DAGS code are in good agreement with measurements. Therefore, the developed model of DAGS code is good analytical tool for estimating tube-to-support dynamic interaction in real heat exchangers.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.841-845
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• 2001

The steam generator tubes of power plant damaged by sliding wear due to flow-induced motion of foreign object. Amount of wear have been predicted by Achard's wear equation until now. However, there are large error and low reliability, because this equation regards wear coefficient(k) as constant. The sliding wears tests have been performed at room temperature to examine parameters of wear (wear distance, contact stress). The steam generator tube material for wear test is used Inconel 600 and foreign object material is used 304 austenite stainless steel. The sliding wear tests show that the amount of wear is not linearly proportional to the wear distance(for 374 austenite stainless steel). According to experimental result, wear coefficient is not constant k but function k(s) of wear distance. The newly modified wear predictive equation V=k(s)F have small error and high reliability.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.78-83
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• 1999

Fretting Wear Behavior and Characteristics were investigated with Inconel 690 tube which is used in Nuclear Power Plant. Fretting Wear Tester has been engaged in the study of characteristics on tube fretted induced to various factors, i.e. vibration amplitude, contact type, material properties load support geometry, environmental effect Test has been performed in air and at room temperature. Wear volume rate has been approximately estimated as a function of normal load.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.380-385
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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 600 and 690 against STS 304. Sliding tests with the pin-on-disk type tribometer were done under various applied loads and sliding speeds at air environment. Fretting tests were done under various vibrating amplitudes and applied normal loads. From the results of sliding and fretting wear tests, the wear of Inconel 600 and 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. It was found the results that the wear coefficients for Inconel 600 and 690 were 262.3$\times$10$\^$-15/Pa$\^$-1/ and 209.2$\times$10$\^$-15/Pa$\^$-1/, respectively. This study shows that Inconel 690 can provide much better wear resistance than Inconel 600 in air.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.37-40
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• 2004

The impact/sliding wear tests have been performed in high temperature high pressure water in order to evaluate the effect of spring shape on the wear behavior of a spring supported tube for nuclear fuel fretting study. The results indicate that the tube wear volume and the size of the wear scar are closely related to each spring shape. From the analysis of the wear scar, it is possible to extract the real worn area (Aw) from the size of the wear scar (At). In addition, we found that the wear volume has a linear relation with the real worm area rather than the size of wear scar and this was only determined by each spring shape in the high temperature and pressure water condition. From the above results, it is possible to evaluate the wear resistant spring using the correlation between the variation of the real worn area and the wear behavior at each spring.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.144-148
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• 2006

The experimental investigation was performed to find the associated changes in characteristics of fretting wear with various water temperatures. The fretting wear tests were carried out using the zirconium alloy tubes and the grids with increasing the water temperature. The tube materials in water of $20^{\circ}C,\;50^{\circ}C\;and\;80^{\circ}C$ were tested with the applied load of 20 N and the relative amplitude of $200{\mu}m$. The worn surfaces were observed by SEM, EDX analysis and 2D surface profiler. As the water temperature increased, the wear volume was decreased, but oxide layer was increased on the worn surface. The abrasive wear mechanism was observed at water temperature of $20^{\circ}C$ and adhesive wear mechanism occurred at water temperature of $50^{\circ}C,\;80^{\circ}C$. As the water temperature increased, surface micro-hardness was decreased, but wear depth and wear width were decreased due to increasing stick phenomenon. Stick regime occurred due to the formation of oxide layer on the worn surface with increasing water temperatures