Grid-to-rod fretting wear study of SiC/SiC composite accident-tolerant fuel claddings using an autoclave fretting bench test

Kumara, Chanaka; Wang, Rick; Lu, Roger Y.; Deck, Christian; Gazza, Jack; Qu, Jun

doi:10.1016/j.wear.2021.204172

Grid-to-rod fretting wear study of SiC/SiC composite accident-tolerant fuel claddings using an autoclave fretting bench test

Journal Article · Thu Nov 11 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Wear

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2021.204172· OSTI ID:1884014

^[1]; ^[1]; Lu, Roger Y. ^[2]; Deck, Christian ^[3]; Gazza, Jack ^[3]; ^[1]

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Westinghouse Electric Company, Hopkins, SC (United States)
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)

Grid-to-rod-fretting (GTRF) in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) is known to cause wear and surface damage on the fuel claddings, potentially leading to radioactive leakage. One of the accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) concepts is to use advanced cladding materials that could withstand higher temperatures. Here, we investigated the wear behavior of candidate silicon carbide (SiC)-based composite claddings with different levels of surface finish in fretting against a commercial ZIRLO alloy grid using a unique bench-scale autoclave GTRF rig. The experiments mimicked the environment in an industrial full-assembly PWR simulator. Fretting tests were conducted with a realistic load (~0.5 N) in deionized water under a pressure of 20–23 bar at 204 °C for 100 h. While the SiC/SiC composite claddings showed significantly higher wear resistance than the commercial ZIRLO alloy cladding as expected, the smoother versions experienced surprisingly higher wear than the much softer counterface, ZIRLO grid. The wear mechanism of the SiC/SiC cladding was attributed to the SiC wear debris that was trapped at the fretting interface causing both 3-body and 2-body (embedded into the grid surface) abrasion of the cladding. Rougher SiC/SiC claddings had less material loss but caused more wear on the ZIRLO grid. Finally, pre-oxidized ZIRLO grid showed better compatibility with the SiC/SiC cladding to protect both the cladding and grid as a result of reduced wear debris trapping.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: General Atomics; USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); Westinghouse Electric Company

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1884014

Journal Information:: Wear, Journal Name: Wear Vol. 488-489; ISSN 0043-1648

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Accident-tolerant fuel (ATF)
Grid-to-rod-fretting (GTRF)
Pressurized water nuclear reactor (PWR)
Roughness
SiC/SiC composite cladding

Grid-to-rod fretting wear study of SiC/SiC composite accident-tolerant fuel claddings using an autoclave fretting bench test

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References (19)

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