High-temperature steam-oxidation behavior of Zr-1Nb cladding alloy E110

Y. Yan, T. A. Burtseva, M. C. Billone

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

74 Scopus citations

Abstract

Oxidation experiments were conducted at 1000-1200 °C in flowing steam with samples of as-received Zr-1Nb alloy E110 tubing and/or polished E110 tubing. The purpose was to determine the oxidation behavior of this alloy under postulated loss-of-coolant accident conditions in light water reactors. The as-received E110 tubing exhibited a high degree of susceptibility to nodular oxidation and breakaway oxidation at relatively low test times, as compared to other cladding alloys. The nodules grew much more rapidly at 1000 °C than 1100 °C, as did the associated hydrogen uptake. The oxidation behavior was strongly affected by the surface condition of the materials. Polishing to ≈0.1 μm roughness (the roughness of the as-received tubing was ≈0.4 μm) delayed breakaway oxidation. Polishing also removed surface impurities. For polished samples oxidized at 1100 °C, no significant nodular oxidation appeared up to 1000 s. For polished samples oxidized at 1000 °C, hydrogen uptake >100 wppm was delayed from ≈300 s to >900 s. Weight-gain coefficients were determined for pre-breakaway oxidation of polished-only and machined-and-polished E110 tubing samples: 0.162 (mg/cm2)/s0.5 at 1000 °C and 0.613 (mg/cm2)/s0.5 at 1100 °C.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)433-448
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Nuclear Materials
Volume393
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 15 2009
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work was sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The electron microscopy was performed at the Electron Microscopy Center at Argonne National Laboratory, a US Department of Energy Office of Science Laboratory operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 by UChicago Argonne, LLC. We would like to express our appreciation to R. Cook and J. Hiller for their help on SEM and TEM examinations. We are indebted to R. Terasvirta of Fortum for proving us with E110 tubing and cladding. We are particularly grateful to H.H. Scott (NRC) for managing this program and to R.O. Meyer (NRC) for his technical guidance in pre-test planning and post-test data interpretation, which resulted in significant contributions to this work.

FundersFunder number
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
US Department of Energy Office of Science LaboratoryDE-AC02-06CH11357
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
National Research Council Canada

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