Abstract
Oxidation-resistant iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys demonstrate better performance in Loss-of-Coolant Accidents, compared with austenitic- and zirconium-based alloys. However, further deployment of FeCrAl-based materials requires detailed characterization of their performance under irradiation; moreover, since welding is one of the key operations in fabrication of light water reactor fuel cladding, FeCrAl alloy weldment performance and properties also should be determined prior to and after irradiation. Here, advanced C35M alloy (Fe-13%Cr-5%Al) and variants with aluminum (+2%) or titanium carbide (+1%) additions were characterized after neutron irradiation in Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor at 1.8–1.9 dpa in a temperature range of 195–559 °C. Specimen sets included as-received (AR) materials and specimens after controlled laser-beam welding. Tensile tests with digital image correlation (DIC), scanning electron microscopy-electron back scatter diffraction analysis, fractography, and x-ray tomography analysis were performed. DIC allowed for investigating local yield stress in the weldments, deformation hardening behavior, and plastic anisotropy. Both AR and welded material revealed a high degree of radiation-induced hardening for low-temperature irradiation; however, irradiation at high-temperatures (i.e., 559 °C) had little overall effect on the mechanical performance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 221-233 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
| Volume | 504 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2018 |
Funding
This research was sponsored by the US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) , for the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies program for the Reactor Materials effort. A portion of the irradiation campaign, including capsule opening and radioactive specimen handling, was sponsored by the DOE-NE, Advanced Fuel Campaign of the Nuclear Technology Research and Development program. Authors would like to thank Dr. D. Hoelzer (ORNL) for fruitful discussion of the results and reviewing the paper, L. Varma (ORNL) for valuable help in manuscript preparation, and the Irradiated Materials Examination and Testing facility and LAMDA laboratory staff for their continuing support of this research. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).
Keywords
- Digital image correlation
- FeCrAl alloys
- Laser-beam welding
- Mechanical behavior
- Tensile testing