• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.266-273
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• 2004

The objective of this study is an understanding of stress corrosion cracking of metals that is recognized to mostly limit the lifetime of the structural materials by comparing the features of delayed hydride cracking of zirconium alloys with those of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of Ni-based alloys and hydrogen cracking of stainless steels. To this end, we investigated a dependence of delayed hydride cracking (DHC) velocity on the applied stress intensity factor and yield strength, and correlated a temperature dependence of the striation spacing and the DHC velocity. We reviewed a similarity of the features between the DHC of zirconium alloys, the SCC of Ni-based alloys and turbine rotor steels, and the hydrogen cracking of stainless steels and discussed the SCC phenomenon in metals with our DHC mode.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.663-667
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• 2017

Delayed hydride cracking (DHC) was first observed in pressure tubes in Canadian CANDU reactors. In light water reactors, DHC was not observed until the late 1990s in high-burnup boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel cladding. In recent years, the focus on DHC has resurfaced in light of the increased interest in the cladding integrity during interim conditions. In principle, all spent fuel in the wet pools has sufficient hydrogen content for DHC to operate below $300^{\circ}C$. It is therefore of importance to establish the critical parameters for DHC to operate. This work studies the threshold stress intensity factor ($K_{IH}$) to initiate DHC as a function of temperature in Zry-4 for temperatures between $227^{\circ}C$ and $315^{\circ}C$. The experimental technique used in this study was the pin-loading testing technique. To determine the $K_{IH}$, an unloading method was used where the load was successively reduced in a stepwise manner until no cracking was observed during 24 hours. The results showed that there was moderate temperature behavior at lower temperatures. Around $300^{\circ}C$, there was a sharp increase in $K_{IH}$ indicating the upper temperature limit for DHC. The value for $K_{IH}$ at $227^{\circ}C$ was determined to be $2.6{\pm}0.3MPa$ ${\surd}$m.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.69-73
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the delayed hydride cracking (DHC) of Zr-2.5Nb alloy. The DHC model has some defects: first, it cannot explain why the DHC velocity (DHCV) becomes constant regardless of an applied stress intensity factor, even though the stress gradient is affected by the applied stress intensity factor at the notch tip. Second, it cannot explain why the DHCV has a strong dependence on the method of approaching the test temperature by a cool-down or a heating-up, even under the same stress gradient, and third, it cannot predict any hydride size effect on the DHC velocity. The DHC tests were conducted on Zr-2.5Nb compact tension specimens with the test temperatures reached by a heating-up method and a cool-down method. Crack velocities were measured in hydrided specimens, which were cooled from solution-treatment temperatures at different rates by being furnace-cooled, water-quenched, and liquid nitrogen-quenched. The resulting hydride size, morphology, and distributions were examined by optical metallography. It was found that fast cooling rates, which produce very finely dispersed hydrides, result in higher crack growth rates. This different DHC behavior of the Zr-2.5Nb tube with the cooling rate after a homogenization treatment is due to the precipitation of the $\gamma$-hydrides only in the water-quenched Zr-2.5Nb tube. This experiment will provide supporting evidence that the terminal solid solubility of a dissolution (TSSD) of $\gamma$-hydrides is higher than that of $\delta$-hydrides.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.265-276
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• 2013

Pressure tubes made of Zr-2.5 wt% Nb alloy are important components consisting reactor coolant pressure boundary of a pressurized heavy water reactor, in which unanticipated through-wall cracks and rupture may occur due to a delayed hydride cracking (DHC). The Canadian Standards Association has provided deterministic and probabilistic structural integrity evaluation procedures to protect pressure tubes against DHC. However, intuitive understanding and subsequent assessment of flaw behaviors are still insufficient due to complex degradation mechanisms and diverse influential parameters of DHC compared with those of stress corrosion cracking and fatigue crack growth phenomena. In the present study, a deterministic flaw assessment program was developed and applied for systematic integrity assessment of the pressure tubes. Based on the examination results dealing with effects of flaw shapes, pressure tube dimensional changes, hydrogen concentrations of pressure tubes and plant operation scenarios, a simple and rough method for effective cooldown operation was proposed to minimize DHC risks. The developed deterministic assessment program for pressure tubes can be used to derive further technical bases for probabilistic damage frequency assessment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.1138-1147
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• 2018

Delayed hydride cracking (DHC) is an important failure mechanism for Zircaloy tubes in the demanding environment of nuclear reactors. The threshold stress intensity factor, $K_{IH}$, and critical hydride length, $l_C$, are important parameters to evaluate DHC. Theoretical models of them are developed for Zircaloy tubes undergoing non-homogenous temperature loading, with new stress distributions ahead of the crack tip and thermal stresses involved. A new stress distribution in the plastic zone ahead of the crack tip is proposed according to the fracture mechanics theory of second-order estimate of plastic zone size. The developed models with fewer fitting parameters are validated with the experimental results for $K_{IH}$ and $l_C$. The research results for radial cracking cases indicate that a better agreement for $K_{IH}$ can be achieved; the negative axial thermal stresses can lessen $K_{IH}$ and enlarge the critical hydride length, so its effect should be considered in the safety evaluation and constraint design for fuel rods; the critical hydride length $l_C$ changes slightly in a certain range of stress intensity factors, which interprets the phenomenon that the DHC velocity varies slowly in the steady crack growth stage. Besides, the sensitivity analysis of model parameters demonstrates that an increase in yield strength of zircaloy will result in a decrease in the critical hydride length $l_C$, and $K_{IH}$ will firstly decrease and then have a trend to increase with the yield strength of Zircaloy; higher fracture strength of hydrided zircaloy will lead to very high values of threshold stress intensity factor and critical hydride length at higher temperatures, which might be the main mechanism of crack arrest for some Zircaloy materials.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.614-620
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• 2020

In a previous study, delayed hydride cracking (DHC) assessment of pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent fuel during dry storage using the threshold stress intensity factor (K_IH) was performed. However, there were a few limitations in the analysis of the cladding properties, such as oxide thickness and mechanical properties. In this study, those models were modified to include test data for irradiated materials, and the cladding creep model was introduced to improve the reliability of the DHC assessment. In this study, DHC susceptibility of PWR spent fuel during dry storage depending on the axial elevation was evaluated with the improved assessment methodology. In addition, the sensitivity of affecting parameters such as fuel burnup, hydride thickness, and crack aspect ratio are presented.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.171-178
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• 2009

The rate of delayed hydride cracking (DHC), V, has been measured in cold-worked and stress-relieved Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding using the Pin-Loading Tension technique. At $250^{\circ}C$ the mean value of V from 69 specimens was $3.3({\pm}0.8)x10^{-8}$ m/s while the temperature dependence up to $275^{\circ}C$ was described by Aexp(-Q/RT), where Q is 48.3 kJ/mol. No cracking or cracking at very low rates was observed at higher temperatures. The fracture surface consisted of flat fracture with no striations. The results are compared with previous results on fuel cladding and pressure tubes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.222.2-222
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• 2002

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.226-233
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• 1995

The wall thickness of a pressure tube is increased in order to reduce the probability of failure in a pressure tube of CANDU type reactor. It is presented here that the variation of wall thickness changes stress, hydrogen concentration and delayed hydride cracking in Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube. When the wall thickness is increased from 4.2 mm to 5.2 mm, the stress exerted on the tube and the deuterium taken up during operation are reduced by 19％. Further, the calculated allowable depth of the surface flaw over which delayed hydride cracking(DHC) is susceptible increases by 50％. DHC initiation is controlled by the stress and by the hydrogen concentration in the pressure tube. The results are therefore very significant in such a respect that increased wall thickness may reduce DHC initiation. Ac the wall thickness increases the hydrostatic tension will increase. Its impact on the acceleration of the crack growth rate of DHC deserves further studies.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.529-536
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• 2003

The objective of this study is to investigate the reorientation of hydrides with applied stress intensity factor, the peak temperature and the time when to apply the stress intensity factor in a Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube during its thermal cycle treatment. Cantilever beam (CB) specimens with a notch of 0.5 mm in depth made from the Zr-2.5Nb tube were subjected to electrolytic hydrogen charging to contain 60 ppm H and then to a thermal cycle involving heating to the peak temperature of either 310 or $380^{\circ}C$, holding there for 50 h and then cooling to the test temperature of $250^{\circ}C$. The stress intensity factor of either 6.13 or $18.4\;MPa\sqrt{m}$ was applied at the beginning of the thermal cycle, at the end of the hold at the peak temperatures and after cooling to the test temperature, respectively. The reorientation of hydrides in the Zr-2.5Nb tube was enhanced with the increased peak temperature and applied stress intensity factor. Furthermore, when the CB specimens were subjected to $18.4\;MPa\sqrt{m}$ from the beginning of the thermal cycle, the reoriented hydrides occurred almost all over the Zr-2.5Nb tube, surprisingly suppressing the growth of a DHC crack. In contrast, when the CB specimens were subjected to the stress intensity factor at the test temperature, little reorientation of hydrides was observed except the notch region, leading the Zr-2.5Nb to grow a large DHC crack. Based on the correlation between the reorientation of hydrides and the DHC crack growth, a governing factor for DHC is discussed along with the feasibility of the Kim's DHC model.