Development of microstructure and irradiation hardening of Zircaloy during low dose neutron irradiation at nominally 377-440 °c

B. V. Cockeram; K. J. Leonard; T. S. Byun; L. L. Snead; J. L. Hollenbeck

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2014.03.004

Development of microstructure and irradiation hardening of Zircaloy during low dose neutron irradiation at nominally 377-440 °c

B. V. Cockeram, K. J. Leonard, T. S. Byun, L. L. Snead, J. L. Hollenbeck

Radiation Effects and Microstructural An

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Abstract

Neutron irradiation of wrought Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4 was performed in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at irradiation temperatures of nominally 377-440 °C to relatively low neutron fluences between 3 and 31 × 10 ²⁴ n/m² (E >1 MeV). The irradiation hardening was measured using tensile testing. For this relatively high application temperature (377-440 °C) saturation of hardening was observed at the relatively low dose of 3 and 8 × 10²⁴ n/m², but the magnitude of irradiation hardening is much less than reported in the literature for lower irradiation temperatures of 260-326 °C. Examinations of microstructure were used to show that a lower number density of 〈a〉 loops is present that results in the lower level of irradiation hardening. The lower irradiation hardening for the higher irradiation temperature is consistent with literature data. The amorphization of Zr(Fe,Cr)₂ precipitates and resulting change in precipitate composition during irradiation is characterized, and the potential role of these effects on 〈a〉 loop and 〈c〉loop formation and irradiation hardening is discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	69-87
Number of pages	19
Journal	Journal of Nuclear Materials
Volume	449
Issue number	1-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2014.03.004
State	Published - Jun 2014

Funding

This work was supported by USDOE. The authors are grateful for the review and comments provided by J.E. Hack and B.F. Kammenzind. Thanks also to the following ORNL personnel for their efforts in completing the testing (A.W. Williams), a Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility. Research sponsored in part by ORNL’s Shared Research Equipment (ShaRE) user facility, which is sponsored by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy.

Funders	Funder number
Office of Basic Energy Sciences
U.S. Department of Energy
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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title = "Development of microstructure and irradiation hardening of Zircaloy during low dose neutron irradiation at nominally 377-440 °c",

abstract = "Neutron irradiation of wrought Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4 was performed in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at irradiation temperatures of nominally 377-440 °C to relatively low neutron fluences between 3 and 31 × 10 24 n/m2 (E >1 MeV). The irradiation hardening was measured using tensile testing. For this relatively high application temperature (377-440 °C) saturation of hardening was observed at the relatively low dose of 3 and 8 × 1024 n/m2, but the magnitude of irradiation hardening is much less than reported in the literature for lower irradiation temperatures of 260-326 °C. Examinations of microstructure were used to show that a lower number density of 〈a〉 loops is present that results in the lower level of irradiation hardening. The lower irradiation hardening for the higher irradiation temperature is consistent with literature data. The amorphization of Zr(Fe,Cr)2 precipitates and resulting change in precipitate composition during irradiation is characterized, and the potential role of these effects on 〈a〉 loop and 〈c〉loop formation and irradiation hardening is discussed.",

author = "Cockeram, {B. V.} and Leonard, {K. J.} and Byun, {T. S.} and Snead, {L. L.} and Hollenbeck, {J. L.}",

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AU - Cockeram, B. V.

AU - Leonard, K. J.

AU - Byun, T. S.

AU - Snead, L. L.

AU - Hollenbeck, J. L.

PY - 2014/6

Y1 - 2014/6

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AB - Neutron irradiation of wrought Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4 was performed in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at irradiation temperatures of nominally 377-440 °C to relatively low neutron fluences between 3 and 31 × 10 24 n/m2 (E >1 MeV). The irradiation hardening was measured using tensile testing. For this relatively high application temperature (377-440 °C) saturation of hardening was observed at the relatively low dose of 3 and 8 × 1024 n/m2, but the magnitude of irradiation hardening is much less than reported in the literature for lower irradiation temperatures of 260-326 °C. Examinations of microstructure were used to show that a lower number density of 〈a〉 loops is present that results in the lower level of irradiation hardening. The lower irradiation hardening for the higher irradiation temperature is consistent with literature data. The amorphization of Zr(Fe,Cr)2 precipitates and resulting change in precipitate composition during irradiation is characterized, and the potential role of these effects on 〈a〉 loop and 〈c〉loop formation and irradiation hardening is discussed.

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Development of microstructure and irradiation hardening of Zircaloy during low dose neutron irradiation at nominally 377-440 °c

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