• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.170-178
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• 1988

An automated ultrasonic flaw detection system was developed for thin-walled and short tubes such as Zircaloy-4 tubes used for cladding heavy-water reactor fuel. The system was based on the two channels immersion pulse-echo technique using 14 MHz shear wave and the specially developed helical scanning technique, in which the tube to be tested is only rotated and the small water tank with spherical focus ultrasonic transducers is translated along the tube length. The optimum angle of incidence of ultrasonic beam was 26 degrees, at which the inside and outside surface defects with the same size and direction could be detected with the same sensitivity. The maximum permissible defects in the Zircaloy-4 tubes, i.e., the longitudinal and circumferential v notches with the length of 0.76mm and 0.38mm, respectively and the depth of 0.04 mm on the inside and outside surface, could be easily detected by the system with the inspection speed of about 1 m/min and the very excellent reproducibility. The ratio of signal to noise was greater than 20 dB for the longitudinal defects and 12 dB for the circumferential defects.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 1978

In this paper, it is attempted to investigate the phenomena of iodine stress corrosion cracking of Zircaloy-4 cladding failures in reactor through the results of similar out-of-pile test in iodine vapour. The main result of this experiment is a finding of the relation between the threshold stress which can lead to iodine stress corrosion cracking of Zircaloy-4 tube and the iodine concentration. The values of critical stress and the critical iodine concentration are also obtained. A model which relates failure time of Zircaley-4 tube to failure stress and iodine concentration is suggested as follows: log t$_{F}$ =5.5-(3/2)log$_{c}$-4log $\sigma$ where t$_{F}$ : failure time, minutes c: iodne concentration, mg/㎤ $\sigma$: stress, 10$^4$psi.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.106-108
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• 2005

The instrumented fuel irradiation test at a research reactor is needed to evaluate the performance of the developed nuclear fuel. The fuel elements can be designed to measure the center line temperature of fuel pellets during the irradiation test by using temperature sensor. The thermal sensor was composed of thermocouple and sensor sheath. Micro-laser welding technology was adopted to seal between seal tube and sensor sheath with thickness of 0.15 mm. The soundness of welding area has to be confirmed to prevent fission gas of the fuel from leaking out of the element during the fuel irradiation test. In this study, fundamental data for micro-laser welding technology was proposed to seal temperature sensor sheath of the instrumented fuel element. And, micro-laser welding for dissimilar metals between sensor sheath and seal tube was characterized by investigating welding conditions. Moreover, the micro-laser welding technology is closely related to advanced industry. It is expected that the laser material processing technology will be adopted to various a pplications in the industry.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.26-31
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• 1999

An attempt was made in this study to investigate the brazing characteristics of Zr-Be binary amorphous alloys for the development of a new brazing filler metal for joining Zircaloy-4 nuclear fuel cladding tubes. This study was also aimed at the feasibility study of rapidly solidified amorphous alloys to substitute the conventional physical vapor-deposited(PVD) metallic beryllium. The $Zr_{1-x}Be_{x}$($0.3\leq$x$\leq0.5$) binary amorphous alloys were produced in the ribbon form by the melt-spinning method. It was confirmed by x-ray diffraction that the ribbons were amorphous. The amorphous. the amorphous alloys were used to join bearing pads on Zircaloy-4 nuclear fuel cladding tubes. Using Zr-Be amorphous alloys as filler metals, it was found that the reduction in the tube wall thickness caused by erosion was prevented. Especially, in the case of using $Zr_{0.65}Be_{0.35}$ and $Zr_{0.7}Be_{0.3}$ amorphousalloys, the smooth and spherical primary $\alpha$-Zr particles appeared in the brazed layer, which was the most desirable microstructure from the corrosion-resistance standpoint.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.746-755
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• 2015

To investigate the effect of hydrogen and oxygen contents on hydride reorientations during cool-down processes, zirconium-niobium cladding tube specimens were hydrogen-charged before some specimens were oxidized, resulting in 250 ppm and 500 ppm hydrogen-charged specimens containing no oxide and an oxide thickness of $0.38{\mu}m$ at each surface. The nonoxidized and oxidized hydrogen-charged specimens were heated up to $400^{\circ}C$ and then cooled down to room temperature at cooling rates of $0.3^{\circ}C/min$ and $8.0^{\circ}C/min$ under a tensile hoop stress of 150 MPa. The lower hydrogen contents and the slower cooling rate generated a larger fraction of radial hydrides, a longer radial hydride length, and a lower ultimate tensile strength and plastic elongation. In addition, the oxidized specimens generated a smaller fraction of radial hydrides and a lower ultimate tensile strength and plastic elongation than the nonoxidized specimens. This may be due to: a solubility difference between room temperature and $400^{\circ}C$; an oxygen-induced increase in hydrogen solubility and radial hydride nucleation energy; high temperature residence time during the cool-down; or undissolved circumferential hydrides at $400^{\circ}C$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.267-272
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• 1986

To obtain various necessary data for the manufacturing and the use of the nuclear fuel cladding tube, the effects of deformation and heat treatment on Properties of Zircalof-4 material have been studied. The hardness is increased rapidly at a low degree of cold work and increased rapidly at cold work above 10%. Recrystallization has been completed at 64$0^{\circ}C$, 59$0^{\circ}C$, and 555$^{\circ}C$ in 30%, 60% and 80% cold worked specimen, respectively. The transformation of microstructure with increasing cooling rate after $\beta$-annealing is as follows; coarse Widmanstatten ($\alpha$) longrightarrow fine parallel plate ($\alpha$) longrightarrow martensite ($\alpha$$^{'}$). At the same time, hardness increased with increasing cooling rate. rate.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.238-248
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• 2019

In the high-temperature and high-pressure irradiation environments, the multi-field coupling processes of hydrogen diffusion, hydride precipitation and mechanical deformation in Zircaloy cladding tubes occur. To simulate this hydrogen-induced complex behavior, a multi-field coupling method is developed, with the irradiation hardening effects and hydride-precipitation-induced expansion and hardening effects involved in the mechanical constitutive relation. The out-pile tests for a cracked cladding tube after irradiation are simulated, and the numerical results of the multi-fields at different temperatures are obtained and analyzed. The results indicate that: (1) the hydrostatic stress gradient is the fundamental factor to activate the hydrogen-induced multi-field coupling behavior excluding the temperature gradient; (2) in the local crack-tip region, hydrides will precipitate faster at the considered higher temperatures, which can be fundamentally attributed to the sensitivity of TSSP and hydrogen diffusion coefficient to temperature. The mechanism is partly explained for the enlarged velocity values of delayed hydride cracking (DHC) at high temperatures before crack arrest. This work lays a foundation for the future research on DHC.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.88-104
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• 1988

The FUel Rod Analysis(FURA) code is developed using two-dimensional finite element methods for axisymmetric and plane stress analysis of fuel rod. It predicts the thermal and mechanical behavior of fuel rod during normal and load follow operations. To evaluate the exact temperature distribution and the inner gas pressure, the radial deformation of pellet and clad, the fission gas release are considered over the full-length of fuel rod. The thermal element equation is derived using Galerkin's techniques. The displacement element equation is derived using the principle of virtual works. The mechanical analysis can accommodate various components of strain: elastic, plastic, creep and thermal strain as well as strain due to swelling, relocation and densification. The 4-node quadratic isoparametric elements are adopted, and the geometric model is confined to a half-pellet-height region with the assumption that pellet-pellet interaction is symmetrical. The pellet cracking and crack healing, pellet-cladding interaction are modelled. The Newton-Raphson iteration with an implicit algorithm is applied to perform the analysis of non-linear material behavior accurately and stably. The pellet and cladding model has been compared with both analytical solutions and experimental results. The observed and predicted results are in good agreement. The general behavior of fuel rod is calculated by axisymmetric system and the cladding behavior against radial crack is used by plane stress system. The sensitivity of strain aging of PWR fuel cladding tube due to load following is evaluated in terms of linear power, load cycle frequency and amplitude.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.60-69
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• 1989

The present study was aimed at investigating the effect of welding parameters such as welding current, electrode force(or squeeze force) and parts cleaning on the sound weld, and establishing the most reliable weld conditions for HWP(Heavy Water Reactor) fuel end capping with the resistance upset butt welding. Major results obtained are as follows. 1. The amount of sound weld was increased with increasing weld current(5.0-11KA) because the activated diffusion with increasing heat generation played an important role in eliminating the porosity and weld line in the weld interface. 2. It was found that weld current was not significantly influenced by the electrode force although the increase of it caused a slight increase of weld current and upset deformation. 3. Acetone rinsing before drying for the Zircaloy-4 end cap cleaning produced the reliable sound weld because it would remove the remaining solvent and surface films, and provided the uniform contact between the end cap and the tube. 4. The optimum welding conditions for fuel end capping by a resistance upset hytt welding are obtained as follows. weld current: 10-11KA, electrode force: 62-90KPa parts cleaning: vapor degreasing.rarw.water, acetone rinsing.rarw.drying.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 2009

This paper presents a thermal creep test under internal pressure and post-test characterization performed on high burnup (68 MWd/kgU) ZIRLO. This research has been done by the CSN, ENRESA, and ENUSA in order to investigate the behavior of advanced cladding materials in contemporary PWRs at higher burnup under dry cask storage conditions. Also, to investigate the hydride reorientation, the cool-down of the samples after the test has been done in a coordinated manner with the internal pressure. The creep results obtained are consistent with the expected behavior from reference CWSR material, Zr-4. During the test, the material retained significant ductility: one specimen leaked during the test at an engineering strain of the tube section of 17%; remarkably, the crack closed due to de-pressurization. Although significant hydride reorientation occurred during the cool-down under pressure, no specimen failed during the cool-down.