An investigation of the oxidation behaviour of zirconium alloys using isotopic tracers and high resolution SIMS

Hydrogen Embrittlement and Oxide Layer Effect in the Cathodically Charged Zircaloy-2

“…All these factors depend on the oxidation temperature and time, composition and fugacity of a medium, and chemical and phase composition of an alloy [23]. The obtained results here correspond to the previous reports regarding the temperature dependence of the oxide layer growth [25,[61][62][63][64][65][66][67], the complex multilayer and multiphase structure [68][69][70][71], growth of the oxide layer in columnar grains [68,72], and the appearance of porosity [25,33,[73][74][75] and cracks [76][77][78][79]. Interestingly, it was also noted that a severe descaling of the oxide layer appeared in these investigations at a relatively high temperature.…”

The measurement of stress and phase fraction distributions in pre and post-transition Zircaloy oxides using nano-beam synchrotron X-ray diffraction

“…As the oxidising environment is once again able to come into contact with the underlying metal, the oxidation rate increases and transition ensues. Evidence for this percolation path was shown by Yardley et al [63] for oxides grown on ZIRLO, via 18 O isotopic spiking of the pressurised water. The resulting 18 O profiles for the post-transition oxide showed localised penetration of the 18 O from the surface to the metal-oxide interface (via a horizontal band of higher 18 O concentration), corresponding to the vertical and lateral cracks observed via SEM.…”

The use of micro-Raman imaging to measure 18 O tracer distribution in thermally grown zirconia scales

“…Analysis of the 18 O in-depth diffusion profiles can lead to the determination of the oxygen bulk and grain boundary diffusion coefficients [4,20,[22][23][24]. Secondary Ions Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) or Secondary Neutral Mass Spectroscopy (SNMS) are, most often, the techniques used to track the isotope distribution in the scale after a two-stage oxidation experiment [18,21,[25][26][27]. As an alternative, Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) is sometimes used: quantitative 18 O deep profiles can be directly obtained from the energy spectrum of the ␣ particles produced by the 18 O(p,␣) 15 N reaction [4,27,28].…”

“…Secondary Ions Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) or Secondary Neutral Mass Spectroscopy (SNMS) are, most often, the techniques used to track the isotope distribution in the scale after a two-stage oxidation experiment [18,21,[25][26][27]. As an alternative, Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) is sometimes used: quantitative 18 O deep profiles can be directly obtained from the energy spectrum of the ␣ particles produced by the 18 O(p,␣) 15 N reaction [4,27,28]. Even if rarely used for that purpose, micro-Raman spectroscopy is another technique which is able to extract 18 O diffusion profiles.…”