Abstract
Oxidation tests of Zircaloy-4 pressurized water reactor tube specimens in steam were conducted for several types of temperature excursions. These tests were used to evaluate the accuracy of predictions of the oxidation behavior based on ideal models that employ isothermal kinetic data. While oxidation during simple transient temperature excursions, where the peak temperature was between 1000 and 1400°C, could be predicted with reasonable accuracy, certain “two-peak” transients resulted in oxide layers considerably less than those anticipated. On the basis of our experiments, we propose that this effect is related to the manner in which the monoclinic-tetragonal phase transformation occurs in the oxide and the fact that the normal (bulk) transformation hysteresis is altered for a growing oxide film.
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Research sponsored in part by the Division of Materials Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy, and in part by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy under contract W-7405-eng-26 with the Union Carbide Corporation.
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Pawel, R.E., Cathcart, J.V. & McKee, R.A. “Anomalous” oxide growth during transient-temperature oxidation of zircaloy-4. Oxid Met 14, 1–13 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00604100
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00604100