NSUF 16-840: Hydride Microstructure at the Metal-Oxide Interface of Zircaloy-4 from H.B. Robinson Nuclear Reactor

During nuclear reactor operation, some of the hydrogen that is produced by the water side corrosion is uptaken by cladding. When the uptaken hydrogen content exceeds its solubility limit in the cladding at a specific temperature, it precipitates as hydride particles in the cladding. This process occurs immediately at the metal-oxide interface forming a hydride rim because of the temperature gradient in the cladding. The presence of a hydride rim and its microstructure severely reduces the cladding strength and can induce crack initiation and propagation during design basis accidents, spent nuclear fuel trasportation and dry-storage. To assess the possible crack initiation sites and mechanisms, high resolution microstructural characterization of hydride rim becomes essential to facilitate continued alloy development and increase the mechanical performance of current cladding during nuclear fuel cycle. The characterization of the hydride rim near the metal-oxide interface using the highly complementary S/TEM-EDS and tKD will enables us to understand the nature of hydride rim formation at the metal-oxide interface and develop informed microstructural models of the hydride-induced crack nucleation. We propose to characterize the metal-oxide interface of the reactor irradiated commercial Zircaloy-4 to elucidate the possible crack nucleation sites and mechanisms at the metal-oxide interface and their connection to the hydride habit planes with respect to the metal-oxide interface by employing S/TEM-EDS and tKD techniques.

Papildoma informacija

Laukas Reikšmė
Awarded Institution Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Embargo End Date 2026-02-27
Facility Tech Lead Kevin Field, Kory Linton
NSUF Call FY 2017 RTE 1st Call
PI Mahmut Cinbiz
Project Member Jianchao HE - University of Wisconsin
Project Member Dr. Philip Edmondson - University of Manchester (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8990-0870)
Project Member Dr. Mahmut Cinbiz - Oak Ridge National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4626-8515)
Project Notes Awarded on 12/16/2016
Project Type RTE
Publication Hydride Microstructure at the Metal-Oxide Interface of a Zircaloy-4 Fuel Clad from the H.B. Robinson Nuclear Reactor Mahmut Cinbiz, Philip Edmondson, Kurt Terrani 2017 ANS Annual Meeting 2017-06-11 - 2017-06-15
RTE Number 840