International audienceFor nuclear reactor components, uniaxial isothermal fatigue curves are used to estimate the crack initiation under thermal fatigue. However, such approach would be not sufficient in some cases where cracking was observed. To investigate differences between uniaxial and thermal fatigue damage, tests have been carried out using the thermal fatigue devices SPLASH and FAT3D: a bi-dimensional (2D) loading condition is obtained in SPLASH and crack initiation is defined as the first 150-μm surface cracks, whereas a tri-dimensional (3D) loading condition is obtained in FAT3D and crack initiation refers to the first 2-mm surface crack. All the analysed tests clearly show that for identical levels of strain, the number of cycles required to achieve crack initiation is significantly lower in thermal fatigue than in uniaxial isothermal fatigue. The enhanced damaging effect probably results from a pure mechanical origin: a nearly perfect biaxial state corresponds to an increased hydrostatic stress. In that frame, a Part II accompanying paper will be dedicated to investigate accurately on multiaxial effect, and to improve thus estimation of crack initiation under thermal fatigue

The main objective of this paper is to describe the effects of a long service exposure of the PWR fuel cladding tubes on their thermal-mechanical properties during and after a hypothetical LOCA transient. Within this prospect, specific studies have been performed: on one hand, thermal ramp tests under uniaxial stress loading on as-received, pre-hydrided and irradiated samples of Zy-4 and M5™, and on the other hand, mechanical tests after high temperature oxidation and quench on as-received and prehydrided Zy-4 and M5™. The main conclusions are: (1) In service, hydrogen pick-up impacts the thermal ramp behavior under uniaxial stress loading of cladding tubes upon the first phase of LOCA transient, and the effect of the irradiation defects can be ignored for the conditions tested. (2) As-received Zy-4 and M5™ achieve comparable post-quench mechanical behavior at 1000, 1100, and 1200°C for representative times of LOCA transient (1800 s). (3) Oxygen has the most important effect in embrittlement of as-received Zr alloys at 1100 and 1200°C. (4) Hydriding has no effect on the oxidation kinetics at 1200°C, but after quenching the hydrided materials become brittle at a lower weight gain than as-received materials; this embrittlement is due both to an intrinsic hydrogen-embrittlement effect and to the oxygen content increase resulting from the effect of hydrogen on its solubility in prior-Beta phase.

It is now well acknowledged that, after a prototypical loss of coolant accident (LOCA) transient, the resultant mechanical properties of fuel cladding tubes depend strongly on the oxygen content of the residual prior-β layer, as this phase is the only metallic part of the high-temperature oxidized cladding that may show some residual ductility. The aim of this study is to obtain relevant information on the evolution of the mechanical properties, on the one hand, of the prior-β structure as a function of the oxygen content, assuming that there is a critical oxygen content that leads to a ductile-to-brittle failure mode transition at low testing temperatures (20–135°C); and on the other hand, of the α(O) structure as a function of the oxygen content. Sheets of Zircaloy-4, 1 to 3 mm thick, and M5®M5® is a registered trademark of AREVA-NP. advanced alloys from AREVA NP have been studied. To obtain different oxygen contents, they were oxidized at high temperature and then annealed under vacuum in order to reduce the oxide layer. Systematic post-treatment measurements of the oxygen concentration and of its homogeneity within the sheet thickness were performed. The different prior-β and α(O) structures thus obtained have homogeneous oxygen content between ∼0.14 wt. % and 0.9 wt. % and ∼2 wt. % and 7 wt. %, respectively. Such oxygen concentration ranges cover the solubility values that are expected in the β phase and in the α(O) phase at high temperatures typical of LOCA transients. Detailed microstructure investigations were subsequently performed on the prior-β structures since it is considered to be the most important layer when regarding the post-quench mechanical behavior of the material. Continuous cooling temperature (CCT) phase diagrams as a function of the oxygen content were established to correctly interpret the results. Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis has then allowed the crystallographic orientations and the morphology of prior-β phase sub-grains to be determined. For each considered prior-β grain, it was possible to interpret the data by taking into account the “Bürgers” crystallographic relationship between the parent β phase and the resultant α phase. Complementary electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) was also used. These last experiments have shown a spatial fluctuation of the oxygen content within the microstructure that depends both on the nominal oxygen content and on the cooling rate. Nanohardness measurements were also performed and correlated with this oxygen spatial partition. These measurements proved to be useful for the understanding of the tensile macroscopic mechanical behavior. Finally, on the one hand, tensile tests were performed on prior-β phase at testing temperatures ranging from −100°C up to 260°C. The ductile-to-brittle temperature transition and the mechanical constitutive laws as a function of the oxygen content were then described. These tests show the existence of a ductile-to-brittle failure mode transition at 20°C for a critical oxygen concentration of ∼0.5 wt. %. A detailed fractographic analysis was performed to assess the failure mechanism. On the other hand, four-point bending tests were conducted on α(O) phase at 25°C and 135°C in order to obtain behavior laws. Preliminary finite element calculations were performed to simulate ring compression tests carried out on multi-layered high-temperature oxidized cladding tubes.

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