• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.140-148
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• 2002

Anisotropic elastic constants of Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube materials were determined by a high temperature resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS). The resonant frequencies were measured using alumina wave-guides and wide band ultrasonic transducers in a small furnace. The rectangular parallelepiped specimens were fabricated along with the axial, radial and circumferential direction of the pressure tube. A nine elastic stiffness tensor for orthotropic symmetry was determined in the range of room temperature ${\sim}500^{\circ}C$. As the temperature increases, the elastic constant tensor, cij gradually decreases. Higher elastic constants along the transverse direction compared to those along the axial or radial direction are similar to the case of Young's modulus or shear modulus. A crossing of shear elastic constants along axial direction and radial direction was observed near $150^{\circ}C$. This fact corresponds to the crossing of c44 and c66 of single crystal zirconium.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.681-687
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• 2016

Zirconium(Zr) nuclear fuel cladding tubes are made using a three-time pilgering and annealing process. In order to remove the oxidized layer and impurities on the surface of the tube, a pickling process is required. Zr is dissolved in HF and $HNO_3$ mixed acid during the process and pickling waste acid, including dissolved Zr, is totally discarded after being neutralized. In this study, the waste acid was recycled by adding $BaF_2$, which reacted with the Zr ion involved in the waste acid; $Ba_2ZrF_8$ was subsequently precipitated due to its low solubility in water. It is very difficult to extract zirconium from the as-recovered $Ba_2ZrF_8$ because its melting temperature is $1031^{\circ}C$. Hence, we tried to recover Zr using an electrowinning process with a low temperature molten salt compound that was fabricated by adding $ZrF_4$ to $Ba_2ZrF_8$ to decrease the melting point. Change of the Zr redox potential was observed using cyclic voltammetry; the voltage change of the cell was observed by polarization and chronopotentiometry. The structure of the electrodeposited Zr was analyzed and the electrodeposition characteristics were also evaluated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.9
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• pp.2054-2063
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• 2020

The high-temperature oxidation behavior of ZrSi₂ used as a coating material for nuclear fuel cladding was investigated for developing accident-tolerant fuel cladding of light water reactors. Bulk ZrSi₂ samples were prepared by spark plasma sintering. In situ X-ray diffraction was conducted in air at 900, 1000, and 1100 ℃ for 20 h. The microstructures of the samples before and after oxidation were examined by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the oxide layer of zirconium silicide exhibited a layer-by-layer structure of crystalline ZrO₂ and amorphous SiO₂, and the high-temperature oxidation resistance was superior to that of Zircaloy-4 owing to the SiO₂ layer formed. ZrSi₂ was coated on the Zircaloy-4 tube surface using laser 3D printing, and the coated tube was oxidized for 2000 s at 1200 ℃ under a vapor/argon mixture atmosphere. The outer surface of the coated tube was hardly oxidized (10-30 ㎛), while the inner surface of the uncoated tube was significantly oxidized to approximately 300 ㎛.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.843-848
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• 2000

The pressure tube is a major component of the CANDU reactor, which supports nuclear fuel bundle and it's containment vessel. If a flaw is found during the periodic inspection from the pressure tubes, the integrity evaluation must be carried out, and the safety requirements must be satisfied for continued service. In order to complete the integrity evaluation, complicated and iterative calculation procedures are required. Besides, a lot of data and knowledge for the evaluation are required for the entire integrity evaluation process. For this reason, an integrity evaluation system, which provides efficient way of evaluation with the help of attached databases, was developed. The developed system was built on the basis of ASME Sec. XI and FFSG(Fitness For Service Guidelines for zirconium alloy pressure tubes in operating CANDU reactors) issued by the AECL, and covers the delayed hydride cracking(DHC). Various analysis methods are provided for the integrity evaluation of pressure tube. In order to verify the developed system, several case studies have been performed and the results were compared with those from AECL. A good agreement was observed between those two results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.189-195
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• 2004

The pressure tubes, which contain high temperature heavy water and fuel, are within the core of a CANDU nuclear reactor, and are thus subjected to high stresses, temperature gradient, and neutron flux. Further, it is well known that pressure tubes of cold-worked Zr-2.5Nb materials result in hydrogen diffusion, which create fully-hydrided regions (frequently called Blister). Thus a proper investigation of hydrogen diffusion within zirconium-alloy nuclear components, such as CANDU pressure tube and fuel channels is essential to predict the structural integrity of these components. In this respect, this paper presents numerical investigation of hydrogen diffusion to quantify the hydrogen concentration fur blister growth of CANDU pressure tube. For this purpose, coupled temperature-hydrogen diffusion analyses are performed by means of two-dimensional finite element analysis. Comparison of predicted temperature field and blister with published test data shows good agreement.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.12
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• pp.852-859
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• 2009

The manufacturing process of zirconium alloys is an import factor to increase their strength and corrosion resistance. In order to find an improved manufacturing process of zirconium alloys in both Zr-1Nb-1Sn-0.1Fe (Alloy-A) and Zr-1.5Nb-0.4Sn-0.2Fe-0.1Cr (HANA-4) for fuel guide tubes, sheet samples were prepared by applying two- and three-step processes that were controlled by an annealing and reduction condition. The mechanical strength and corrosion resistance of both alloys were increased by applying the twostep process rather than the three-step process. From a matrix analysis using TEM, the property improvement is related to the decrease of the precipitate mean diameter with an application of the two-step process. In a comparison of the strength and corrosion properties between Alloy-A and HANA-4, the performance of HANA-4 was feasible for application to fuel guide tubes.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.435-441
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• 2014

Silicon carbide-based ceramics and their composites have been studied for application to fusion and advanced fission energy systems. For fission reactors, $SiC_f$/SiC composites can be applied to core structural materials. Multilayered SiC composite fuel cladding, owing to its superior high temperature strength and low hydrogen generation under severe accident conditions, is a candidate for the replacement of zirconium alloy cladding. The SiC composite cladding has to retain its mechanical properties and original structure under the inner pressure caused by fission products; as such it can be applied as a cladding in fission reactor. A hoop strength test using an expandable polyurethane plug was designed in order to evaluate the mechanical properties of the fuel cladding. In this paper, a hoop strength test of the multilayered SiC composite tube for nuclear fuel cladding was simulated using FEA. The stress caused by the plug was distributed nonuniformly because of the friction coefficient difference between the inner surface of the tube and the plug. Hoop stress and shear stress at the tube was evaluated and the relationship between the concentrated stress at the inner layer of the tube and the fracture behavior of the tube was investigated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.421-428
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• 2011

The out-of-pile mechanical performance and microstructure of recrystallized Zr-1.5 Nb-S alloy was investigated. The strength of the recrystallized Zr-1.5Nb-O-S alloys was observed to increase with the addition of sulfur over a wide temperature range, from room temperature up to $300^{\circ}C$. A yield drop and stress serrations due to dynamic strain were observed at room temperature and $300^{\circ}C$. Wavy and curved dislocations and loosely knit tangles were observed after strained to 0.07 at room temperature, suggesting that cross slip is easier. At $300^{\circ}C$, however, dislocations were observed to be straight and aligned along the slip plane, suggesting that cross slip is rather difficult. At $300^{\circ}C$, oxygen atoms are likely to exert a drag force on moving dislocations, intensifying the dynamic strain aging effect. Oxygen atoms segregated at partial dislocations of a screw dislocation with the edge component may hinder the cross slip, resulting in the rather straight dislocations distributed on the major slip planes. Recrystallized Zr-Nb-S alloys exhibited ductile fracture surfaces, supporting the beneficial effect of sulfur in zirconium alloys. Oxidation resistance in air was also found to be improved with the addition of sulfur in Zr-1.5 Nb-O alloys.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.681-688
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• 2014

Hydride reorientation behaviors of PWR cladding tubes under typical interim dry storage conditions were investigated with the use of as-received 250 and 485ppm hydrogen-charged Zr-Nb alloy cladding tubes. In order to evaluate the effect of typical cool-down processes on the radial hydride precipitation, two terminal heat-up temperatures of 300 and $400^{\circ}C$, as well as two terminal cool-down temperatures of 200 and $300^{\circ}C$, were considered. In addition, two cooling rates of 2.5 and $8.0^{\circ}C/min$ during the cool-down processes were taken into account along with zero stress or a tensile hoop stress of 150MPa. It was found that the 250ppm hydrogen-charged specimen experiencing the higher terminal heat-up temperature and the lower terminal cool-down temperature generated the highest number of radial hydrides during the cool-down process under 150MPa hoop tensile stress, which may be explained by terminal solid hydrogen solubilities for precipitation, and dissolution and remaining circumferential hydrides at the terminal heat-up temperatures. In addition, the slower cool-down rate generates the larger number of radial hydrides due to a cooling rate-dependent, longer residence time at a relatively high temperature that can accelerate the radial hydride nucleation and growth.