Applicability of Swaging as an Alternative for the Fabrication of Accident-Tolerant Fuel Cladding

Dae Yun Kim, You Na Lee, Joon Han Kim, Yonghee Kim and Young Soo Yoon
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Dae Yun Kim: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gachon University, Gyeonggi-do 13120, Korea
You Na Lee: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gachon University, Gyeonggi-do 13120, Korea
Joon Han Kim: SFR Nuclear Fuel Development Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon 34507, Korea
Yonghee Kim: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Korea
Young Soo Yoon: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gachon University, Gyeonggi-do 13120, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: We suggest an alternative to conventional coating methods for accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding. A Zircaloy-4 tube was inserted into metal tubes of different materials and the inserted tubes were subjected to physical force at room temperature. The manufactured tube exhibited a pseudo-single tube (PST) structure and had higher thermal stability than a Zircaloy-4 tube. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images showed that the PST had a uniform and well-bonded interface structure, i.e., no gaps or voids were found at the interface between the inner and outer tubes. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis confirmed that the metal components did not interdiffuse at the interface of the PST, even after being kept at 600 and 900 °C for 1 h and rapidly cooled to room temperature. Unlike pure Zircaloy-4 tubes, Zircaloy-4/stainless use steel (SUS) 316 PST did not show significant structural collapse, even after being stored at 1200 °C for 1 h. Based on these results, if a PST was fabricated using a Zircaloy-4 tube thinner than the Zircaloy-4 tube used in this study and an outer tube of micron-scale thickness, swaging may be a feasible alternative to Zircaloy-4-based ATF cladding.

Keywords: alternative process; non-coating method; room-temperature swaging; pseudo-single tube (PST); accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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