• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.186-189
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• 2008

The flow induced vibration in the nuclear fuel assembly causes the fretting wear between the fuel cladding tubes and the supporting grids. The reduction in tube thickness due to the fretting wear could be related to the serious damage on nuclear fuel assembly. In this paper, the effect of the water flow on fretting wear of nuclear fuel cladding tube against supporting grid was investigated through the fretting wear tester with water spout equipment. The test results were compared with the data conducted in the stationary water. At stationary water environment the wear debris was trapped between fretting surfaces, and then the fretting wear occurred by three-body abrasion. However, in the case of water flow, the two-body abrasive wear was the dominant wear mechanism, because the wear debris was easily removed by water flow.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.75-83
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• 2017

In severe accident conditions of light water reactors, the loss of coolant may cause problems in integrity of zirconium fuel cladding. Under the condition of the loss of coolant, the zirconium fuel cladding can be exposed to high temperature steam and reacted with them by producing of hydrogen, which is caused by the failure in oxidation resistance of zirconium cladding materials during the loss of coolant accident scenarios. In order to avoid these problems, we develop a multi-metallic layered composite (MMLC) fuel cladding which compromises between the neutronic advantages of zirconium-based alloys and the accident-tolerance of non-zirconium-based metallic materials. Cold pilgering process is a common tube manufacturing process, which is complex material forming operation in highly non-steady state, where the materials undergo a long series of deformation resulting in both diameter and thickness reduction. During the cold pilgering process, MMLC claddings need to reduce the outside diameter and wall thickness. However, multi-layers of the tube are expected to occur different deformation processes because each layer has different mechanical properties. To improve the utilization of the pilgering process, 3-dimensional computational analyses have been made using a finite element modeling technique. We also analyze the dimensional change, strain and stress distribution at MMLC tube by considering the behavior of rolls such as stroke rate and feed rate.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.130-133
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• 2007

Fuel cladding tubes in nuclear fuel assembly are held up by supporting grids because the tubes are long and slender. Fluid flows of high-pressure and high-temperature in the tubes cause oscillating motions between tubes and supports. This is called as FIV (flow induced vibration), which causes fretting wear in contact parts of tube and support. The fretting wear of tube and support can threaten the safety of nuclear power plant. Therefore, a research about the fretting wear characteristics of tube-support is required. The fretting wear tests were performed with supporting grids and cladding tubes, especially after corrosion treatment on tubes, in water. The tests were done using various applied loads with fixed amplitude. From the results of fretting tests, the wear amounts of tube materials can be predictable by obtaining the wear coefficient using the work rate model. Due to stick phenomena the wear depth was changed as increasing load and temperature. The maximum wear depth was decreased as increasing the water temperatures. At high temperatures there are the regions of some severe adhesion due to stick phenomena.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.129-132
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• 2008

Fuel cladding tubes in nuclear fuel assembly are held up by supporting grids because the tubes are long and slender. Fluid flows of high-pressure and high-temperature in the tubes cause oscillating motions between tubes and supports. This is called as FIV (flow induced vibration), which causes fretting wear in contact parts of tube and support. The fretting wear of tube and support can threaten the safety of nuclear power plant. Therefore, a research about the fretting wear characteristics of tube-support is required. The fretting wear tests were performed with supporting grids and cladding tubes, especially after corrosion treatment on tubes, in water. The tests were done using various applied loads with fixed amplitude. From the results of fretting tests, the wear amounts of tube materials can be predictable by obtaining the wear coefficient using the work rate model. Due to stick phenomena the wear depth was changed as increasing load and temperature. The maximum wear depth was decreased as increasing the water temperatures. At high temperatures there are the regions of some severe adhesion due to stick phenomena.

• Composites Research
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.40-44
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• 2016

원자력발전소에서 사용되고 있는 핵연료 피복관은 핵분열 생성물들의 외부 유출을 방지하기 위해 고온 고압의 냉각수 분위기에서 우수한 산화저항성을 가져야 한다. 그러나 후쿠시마 원전사고의 LOCA(Loss-Of-Coolant-Accident)와 같은 중대사고에서 핵연료의 피복관과 수증기 사이의 격렬한 반응으로 인해 급격한 고온산화를 동반한 다량의 수소발생으로 수소폭발을 방지하기 위한 핵연료의 개발이 요구되고 있다. 이에 따라 핵연료 피복관의 안전성 향상을 위해 내방사선성이 우수하며 높은 강도와 산화, 부식에 대한 내화학적 안정성 및 우수한 열전도도 의 특성을 갖는 SiC와 같은 구조용 세라믹스가 활발히 연구되고 있다. $SiC_f/SiC$ 복합체 보호막 금속 피복관은 지르코늄 피복관 튜브에 SiC 섬유를 필라멘트 와인딩 한 후 Polycarbosilane을 polymer로 함침하여 기지상을 형성하는 공정을 이용하였다. 따라서 이렇게 제조한 $SiC_f/SiC$ 복합체 금속 피복관을 Drop Tube Furnace를 이용한 열충격에 따른 시편의 산화 및 미세조직을 분석하였다.

• 자원리싸이클링
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• 제26권5호
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• pp.97-104
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• 2017

핵연료 피복관(지르코늄 합금)은 필거링, 세정, 산 세정 및 열처리공정을 거쳐 만든다. 튜브 표면의 산화층과 불순물을 제거하기 위하여 산 세정(酸 洗淨, Acid pickling) 공정이 요구된다. 이때 산세 공정 중 불산과 질산의 혼합 산(酸) 용액으로부터 용해된 Zr이 농축된 폐산은 중화반응을 거쳐 전량 폐기 처리 된다. 본 연구에서는 $BaF_2$ 침전 공정을 통해 재생산된 산세 용액의 잔존 불순물(Ba)이 산세에 미치는 영향을 관찰하였다. 이와 더불어 실제 핵연료 피복관의 산세 공정에 적합한 재생산 제조를 위한 잔존 Ba 및 Zr의 농도 저감 실험을 실시하여 최적 침전 공정 조건을 도출하였으며, 핵연료 피복관의 산세 공정을 모사한 파일럿 플랜트 산세공정 장치에서 재생산된 산세용액을 사용하여 피복관의 산세 효율을 AFM 분석을 통해 관찰하였다.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.126-133
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• 2005

Mechanical properties of zirconium cladding were evaluated by ring tension test to simulate Reactivity-Initiated Accident (RIA) at high burnup situation as an out-reactor test. Zircaloy-4 cladding was hydrided up to 1000 ppm as well as oxidized up to $100\;{\mu}m$ to simulate high-burnup situation. After simulated high-burnup treatment, ring tension test was carried out from 0.01 to 1/sec to correlate with actual RIA event. The results showed that ductility and circumferential toughness decreased with the hydrogen content and oxide thickness. Hydride generated inside cladding acted as brittle failure. Oxygen influenced cladding tube by the reduction of load bearing area, oxygen embrittlement, and thermal aging. Correlation between in-reactor RIA parameter like fuel enthalpy and out-reactor toughness was performed and showed a reasonable result.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권9호
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• pp.2990-3002
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• 2021

The mechanical interaction between the fuel pellet and the cladding tube of a nuclear fuel rod is a very important for safety studies as this phenomenon could lead to fuel failure and release of radioactivity. To investigate the ductility of cladding tubes used in WWER type nuclear power plants, several mandrel tests were performed in the Centre for Energy Research (EK). This modified mandrel test was used to model the mechanical interaction between the fuel pellet and the cladding using a segmented tool. The tests were conducted at room temperature and at 300 ℃ with inactive as-received and hydrogenated cladding ring samples. The results show a gradual decrease in ductility as the hydrogen content increases, the ductile-brittle transition was seen above 1500 ppm hydrogen absorbed.

• 한국윤활학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국윤활학회 2002년도 proceedings of the second asia international conference on tribology
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• pp.185-186
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• 2002

Fretting of fuel rod cladding material, Zircaloy-4 tube, in PWR nuclear power plants must be reduced and avoided. Nowadays the introduction of surface treatments or coatings is expected to be an ideal solution to fretting damage since fretting is closely related to wear. corrosion and fatigue. Therefore. in this study the fretting wear experiment was performed using TiAlN coated Zircaloy-4 tube as the fuel rod cladding and uncoated Zircaloy-4 as on of grids, especially concentrating on the sliding component. Fretting wear resistance of TiAlN coated Zircaloy-4 tubes was improved compared with that of TiN coated tubes and uncoated tubes and fretting wear mechanisms were brittle fracture and plastic flow at lower slip amplitude but severe oxidation and spallation of oxidative layer at higher ship amplitude.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권7호
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• pp.2454-2465
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• 2023

Film boiling may lead to burnout of the heating element. Even though burnout does not occur, the heating element is subject to deformation because it is not sufficiently strong to withstand external loads. In particular, the ballooning and rupture of a tube under film boiling are important phenomena in the field of nuclear reactor safety. If the tube-type cladding of nuclear fuel ruptures owing to high internal pressure and thermal load, radioactive materials inside the cladding are released to the coolant. Therefore, predicting the ballooning and rupture is important. This study presents numerical simulations to predict the ballooning behavior and rupture time of a horizontal tube at high internal pressure under saturated film boiling. To do so, a multi-step coupled simulation of conjugated film boiling heat transfer and ballooning using creep model is adopted. The numerical methods and models are validated against experimental values. Two different nonuniform heat flux distributions and four different internal pressures are considered. The three-step simulation is enough to obtain a convergent result. However, the single-step simulation also successfully predicts the rupture time. This is because the film boiling heat transfer characteristics are slightly affected by the tube geometry related to creep ballooning.