Gas-bubble growth mechanisms in the analysis of metal fuel swelling

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/712124· OSTI ID:712124

Gruber, E E; Kramer, J M

The FRAS3 code has been applied to analysis of a series of experiments on irradiated uranium fuel. Comparison of the predicted bubble-size distributions to those measured indicate that grain-boundary bubbles are an important component of the fission-gas inventory. In these experiments, bubble growth rates were not a factor because of the long heating times. On transient time scales, however, various bubble-growth mechanisms become important in determining swelling rates. These mechanisms include growth by diffusion, for bubbles within grains and on grain boundaries; dislocation nucleation at the bubble surface, or "punchout"; and bubble growth by creep. Analyses of these mechanisms are presented and applied to provide information on the conditions and the relative time scales for which the various processes should dominate fuel swelling. The results are compared to a series of experiments in which the swelling of irradiated metal fuel was determined after annealing at various temperatures and pressures. The diffusive growth of bubbles on grain boundaries is concluded to be dominant in these experiments.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 712124
• Report Number(s): ANL-IFR--27; ON: TI86025244
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALLOY NUCLEAR FUELS
BUBBLES
COMPUTER CODES
F CODES
FISSION PRODUCTS
GASES
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
METALS
SWELLING
URANIUM