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Irradiation Creep of Zr-Alloys

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Mechanical and Creep Behavior of Advanced Materials

Part of the book series: The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series ((MMMS))

Abstract

Irradiation creep of Zr-alloy nuclear reactor core components affects the reactor performance and also limits the reactor life in cases where those components cannot easily be replaced. For Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubing irradiation creep has been extensively studied for a range of temperatures, between 250 and 350 °C, and dose rates, between 1 × 1016 and 2 × 1018 n m−2 s−1 (E > 1 meV), using data from various materials test reactors and power reactors. These studies have shown that irradiation creep is controlled by a complex combination of slip and diffusional mass transport (often referred to as irradiation growth in the absence of stress). Irradiation creep is dependent on the crystallographic texture, the dislocation structure, and the grain structure; the importance of each being a function of irradiation temperature and displacement damage rate. Data will be presented, together with mechanistic modelling, to show what factors affect creep under different irradiation conditions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Clinton Mayhew for generating the TKD image. Partial funding for this work was provided by the Candu Owners Group (COG).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, ON, Canada

    M. Griffiths, G. A. Bickel, R. DeAbreu & W. Li

Authors
  1. M. Griffiths
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  2. G. A. Bickel
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  3. R. DeAbreu
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  4. W. Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Griffiths .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Chemical and Matls Engrg, University of Idaho Dept of Chemical and Matls Engrg, Moscow, Idaho, USA

    Indrajit Charit

  2. North Carolina State University , Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

    Yuntian T. Zhu

  3. Los Alamos National Laboratory , Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

    Stuart A. Maloy

  4. University of Tennessee at Knoxville , KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, USA

    Peter K. Liaw

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© 2017 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

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Griffiths, M., Bickel, G.A., DeAbreu, R., Li, W. (2017). Irradiation Creep of Zr-Alloys. In: Charit, I., Zhu, Y., Maloy, S., Liaw, P. (eds) Mechanical and Creep Behavior of Advanced Materials. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51097-2_13

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