Assessment of wear coefficients of nuclear zirconium claddings without and with pre-oxidation
Abstract
In the cores of pressurized water nuclear reactors, water-flow induced vibration is known to cause claddings on the fuel rods to rub against their supporting grids. Such grid-to-rod-fretting (GTRF) may lead to fretting wear-through and the leakage of radioactive species. The surfaces of actual zirconium alloy claddings in a reactor are inevitably oxidized in the high-temperature pressurized water, and some claddings are even pre-oxidized. As a result, the wear process of the surface oxide film is expected to be quite different from the zirconium alloy substrate. In this paper, we attempt to measure the wear coefficients of zirconium claddings without and with pre-oxidation rubbing against grid samples using a bench-scale fretting tribometer. Results suggest that the volumetric wear coefficient of the pre-oxidized cladding is 50 to 200 times lower than that of the untreated cladding. In terms of the linear rate of wear depth, the pre-oxidized alloy wears about 15 times more slowly than the untreated cladding. Finally, fitted with the experimentally-determined wear rates, a stage-wise GTRF engineering wear model demonstrates good agreement with in-reactor experience in predicting the trend of cladding lives.
- Authors:
-
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
- Westinghouse Electric Company, Hopkins, SC (United States)
- Blau Tribology Consulting, Enka, NC (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1261283
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1359968
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Wear
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 356-357; Journal ID: ISSN 0043-1648
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; grid-to-rod-fretting (GTRF); nuclear zirconium claddings; wear coefficient; pre-oxidation; stage-wise wear model
Citation Formats
Qu, Jun, Cooley, Kevin M., Shaw, Austin H., Lu, Roger Y., and Blau, Peter J. Assessment of wear coefficients of nuclear zirconium claddings without and with pre-oxidation. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.wear.2016.02.020.
Qu, Jun, Cooley, Kevin M., Shaw, Austin H., Lu, Roger Y., & Blau, Peter J. Assessment of wear coefficients of nuclear zirconium claddings without and with pre-oxidation. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2016.02.020
Qu, Jun, Cooley, Kevin M., Shaw, Austin H., Lu, Roger Y., and Blau, Peter J. Wed .
"Assessment of wear coefficients of nuclear zirconium claddings without and with pre-oxidation". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2016.02.020. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1261283.
@article{osti_1261283,
title = {Assessment of wear coefficients of nuclear zirconium claddings without and with pre-oxidation},
author = {Qu, Jun and Cooley, Kevin M. and Shaw, Austin H. and Lu, Roger Y. and Blau, Peter J.},
abstractNote = {In the cores of pressurized water nuclear reactors, water-flow induced vibration is known to cause claddings on the fuel rods to rub against their supporting grids. Such grid-to-rod-fretting (GTRF) may lead to fretting wear-through and the leakage of radioactive species. The surfaces of actual zirconium alloy claddings in a reactor are inevitably oxidized in the high-temperature pressurized water, and some claddings are even pre-oxidized. As a result, the wear process of the surface oxide film is expected to be quite different from the zirconium alloy substrate. In this paper, we attempt to measure the wear coefficients of zirconium claddings without and with pre-oxidation rubbing against grid samples using a bench-scale fretting tribometer. Results suggest that the volumetric wear coefficient of the pre-oxidized cladding is 50 to 200 times lower than that of the untreated cladding. In terms of the linear rate of wear depth, the pre-oxidized alloy wears about 15 times more slowly than the untreated cladding. Finally, fitted with the experimentally-determined wear rates, a stage-wise GTRF engineering wear model demonstrates good agreement with in-reactor experience in predicting the trend of cladding lives.},
doi = {10.1016/j.wear.2016.02.020},
journal = {Wear},
number = ,
volume = 356-357,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Mar 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed Mar 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 24 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Compliance of Elastic Bodies in Contact
journal, September 1949
- Mindlin, R. D.
- Journal of Applied Mechanics, Vol. 16, Issue 3
The third-body approach: A mechanical view of wear
journal, December 1984
- Godet, Maurice
- Wear, Vol. 100, Issue 1-3
Slip Index: A New Unified Approach to Fretting
journal, October 2004
- Varenberg, M.; Etsion, I.; Halperin, G.
- Tribology Letters, Vol. 17, Issue 3
The study on grid-to-rod fretting wear models for PWR fuel
journal, December 2009
- Kim, Kyu-Tae
- Nuclear Engineering and Design, Vol. 239, Issue 12
On the fretting wear mechanism of Zr-alloys
journal, October 2006
- Helmi Attia, M.
- Tribology International, Vol. 39, Issue 10
Wear and fretting wear behaviour of ion-implanted Zircaloy-4
journal, September 1996
- Han, Jeon G.; Lee, Jae S.; Choi, Byung H.
- Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 83, Issue 1-3
Deposition and properties of zirconia coatings on a zirconium alloy produced by pulsed DC plasma electrolytic oxidation
journal, April 2013
- Wang, Linlin; Hu, Xin; Nie, X.
- Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 221
A multi-stage wear model for grid-to-rod fretting of nuclear fuel rods
journal, May 2014
- Blau, Peter J.
- Wear, Vol. 313, Issue 1-2
Effects of Loading Conditions and Types of Motion on PWR Fuel Rod Cladding Wear
conference, June 2008
- Joulin, T. P.; Gue´rout, F. M.; Lina, A.
- ASME 2002 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, 5th International Symposium on Fluid Structure Interaction, Aeroelasticity, and Flow Induced Vibration and Noise
Fretting-wear of zirconium alloys
journal, April 2002
- Fisher, Nigel J.; Weckwerth, Murray K.; Grandison, Dwight A. E.
- Nuclear Engineering and Design, Vol. 213, Issue 1
Fretting fatigue and wear damage of structural components in nuclear power stations—Fitness for service and life management perspective
journal, October 2006
- Helmi Attia, M.
- Tribology International, Vol. 39, Issue 10
Comparative study on rod fretting behavior of different spacer spring geometries
journal, January 2009
- Kovács, Szilárd; Stabel, Jürgen; Ren, Mingmin
- Wear, Vol. 266, Issue 1-2
Works referencing / citing this record:
Tribological properties of microarc oxidation coatings on Zirlo alloy
journal, February 2019
- Wei, Kejian; Chen, Lin; Qu, Yao
- Surface Engineering, Vol. 35, Issue 8