The impact of chromium coatings on Zircaloy cladding deformation behavior under reactivity-initiated accident-like mechanical loading conditions

Espersen, Jennifer I.; Garrison, Ben E.; Cervenka, Petr; Seshadri, Arunkumar; Linton, Kory; Shirvan, Koroush; Capps, Nathan A.; Brown, Nicholas R.

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.155910

The impact of chromium coatings on Zircaloy cladding deformation behavior under reactivity-initiated accident-like mechanical loading conditions

Journal Article · Sun May 18 04:00:00 EDT 2025 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.155910· OSTI ID:3002604

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Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

A reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) occurs when a control rod ejection or control blade drop causes an increase in the fission rate. The injection of energy results in an increase in fuel temperature which in turn causes rapid thermal expansion of the fuel pellet. This thermal expansion may result in pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) in which the fuel imparts a mechanical strain to the cladding. PCMI may cause the cladding to fail, and thus, the mechanical response of cladding due to PCMI must be investigated when characterizing new cladding materials. Chromium-coated Zircaloy-4 is a near-term accident-tolerant fuel cladding that exhibits improved high-temperature oxidation resistance. Modified burst testing was utilized to experimentally simulate the effects of PCMI on both uncoated and chromium-coated Zircaloy cladding samples at hot zero power conditions. Samples were coated using either cold spraying or physical vapor deposition to understand the differences in behavior that the coating application method may cause. Digital image correlation was used to analyze images of the deforming specimens to extract the in-situ strain behavior of the cladding. The uncoated specimens burst at hoop strains ranging from 8.8 % to 17.2 %. The cold-spray chromium-coated Zircaloy specimens burst at hoop strains of 7.0 % to 11.0 %. The physical vapor deposition coated tubes burst at hoop strains of 9.1 % to 11.5 %. These results indicate that the chromium coating causes a loss in the ductility of the cladding. Furthermore, the higher burst hoop strains of the physical vapor deposition-coated samples relative to the cold-spray samples indicate that the cold-spraying technique causes more of a loss in ductility than physical vapor deposition. All samples burst at higher hoop strains than those expected to occur in an RIA for fresh cladding.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

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

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

Grant/Contract Number:: NE0009212; NE0009324; AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 3002604

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2568180

Journal Information:: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 614; ISSN 0022-3115

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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