Evaluation of the interfacial shear strength and residual stress of TiAlN coating on ZIRLO™ fuel cladding using a modified shear-lag model approach

Y. Liu, I. Bhamji, P. J. Withers, D. E. Wolfe, A. T. Motta, M. Preuss

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30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper investigates the residual stresses and interfacial shear strength of a TiAlN coating on Zr-Nb-Sn-Fe alloy (ZIRLO™) substrate designed to improve corrosion resistance of fuel cladding used in water-cooled nuclear reactors, both during normal and exceptional conditions, e.g. a loss of coolant event (LOCA). The distribution and maximum value of the interfacial shear strength has been estimated using a modified shear-lag model. The parameters critical to this analysis were determined experimentally. From these input parameters the interfacial shear strength between the TiAlN coating and ZIRLO™ substrate was inferred to be around 120 MPa. It is worth noting that the apparent strength of the coating is high (∼3.4 GPa). However, this is predominantly due to the large compressive residuals stress (3 GPa in compression), which must be overcome for the coating to fail in tension, which happens at a load just 150 MPa in excess of this.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)718-727
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Nuclear Materials
Volume466
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Accident tolerant fuels (ATF)
  • ATF (accident tolerant fuel) coating
  • Fission
  • Metal-coating interface
  • Micromechanical modelling
  • Zirconium

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