DOE OSTI2013
Aluminum-clad U10Mo (including zirconium diffusion layer) fuel assembly plates are bound to be in a state of residual stress due to the mismatch of thermal expansion of the constituent phases. Due to the geometry of the plates, i.e. thin beams, it is expected that the stress will predominantly be in-plane. The thermal expansion of the aluminum cladding, zirconium diffusion layer and U10Mo foil are roughly α Al =22x10 -6 /K, α Zr =5x10 -6 /K, and α U10Mo =10x10 -6 /K. Note that the coefficient of thermal expansion of the zirconium is quoted as that in the a direction in the hexagonal close packed crystal structure because of the strong texture in the rolled zirconium foil, in which the a-axis are strongly preferred in the in-plane direction. During cooling from the hot isostatic pressing (HIP’ing) temperature, the zirconium contracts considerably less than the U10Mo, which in turn, contracts less than the aluminum. Because the aluminum dominates in terms of volume fraction, it is expected that the U10Mo foil and zirconium bonding layer will be in a residual stress state of in-plane compression at room temperature after bonding. This has been verified for the U10Mo foil in a mini fuel plate using x-ray diffraction at the Advanced Photon Source, but measurements of the stress state of the aluminum and zirconium were not possible at the APS. Also, the APS measurements were limited to mini size fuel plates Neutron diffraction experiments of residual stress on the “OSU plate” were completed on the Spectrometer for Materials Research at Temperature and Stress (SMARTS) at the Lujan Center at LANSCE between 2/19-21/2013. Longitudinal and transverse residual strain profiles were measured on an Al-clad U10-Mo OSU plate. Residual strains from the aluminum cladding, the zirconium bonding layer and the U10Mo fuel foil were recorded.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗