A STATISTICAL STUDY OF ZIRCALOY-2 WATER AND STEAM AUTOCLAVE CORROSION TESTS

Technical Report · Wed Mar 15 04:00:00 EST 1961

OSTI ID:4045447

Callahan, E J; Powers, M A

The weight gains amd oxide appearance ratings of Zircaloy-2 material were analyzed statistically to determine population differences and differences between four testing conditions: three and fourteen day water tests (680 deg F, 2708 psi), and three and fourteen day steam tests (750 deg F, 1500 psi). The distributions of the weight gains for the four testing conditions were considered random samples from the true distribution of weight gains for acceptable Zircaloy- 2 as a large number of specimens from a large number of different tests and ingots were included in each distribution. The means and tolerance limits of these distributions were compared with existing specification limits to determine if these limits were realistic in view of current corrosion testing results. It was found that in a fourteen day steam test that a linear relationship exists between the amount of white corrosion product (oxide rating) and the weight gain, the more stringent criterion for acceptable Zircaloy-2 is the oxide appearance of the corrosion product, not the weight gain, and weight gain limits for three day steam and fourteen day water tests could be ralsed. (auth)

• Research Organization: Knolls Atomic Power Lab., Schenectady, N.Y.
• DOE Contract Number: W-31-109-ENG-52
• NSA Number: NSA-15-022650
• OSTI ID: 4045447
• Report Number(s): KAPL-M-EJC-6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

AUTOCLAVES
CORROSION
MATERIALS TESTING
METALS, CERAMICS, AND OTHER MATERIALS
OXIDES
PRESSURE VESSELS
SAMPLING
STATISTICS
STEAM
WATER
WEIGHT
ZIRCALOY