Mechanisms of Hydride Nucleation, Growth, Reorientation, and Embrittlement in Zirconium: A Review
Zirconium (Zr) hydrides threaten the reliability of fuel assembly and have repeatedly induced failures in cladding tubes and pressure vessels. Thus, they attract a broad range of research interests. For example, delayed hydride cracking induced a severe fracture and failure in a Zircaloy-2 pressure...
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MDPI AG
2023-03-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/6/2419 |
| _version_ | 1797610456646418432 |
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| author | Yu-Jie Jia Wei-Zhong Han |
| author_facet | Yu-Jie Jia Wei-Zhong Han |
| author_sort | Yu-Jie Jia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Zirconium (Zr) hydrides threaten the reliability of fuel assembly and have repeatedly induced failures in cladding tubes and pressure vessels. Thus, they attract a broad range of research interests. For example, delayed hydride cracking induced a severe fracture and failure in a Zircaloy-2 pressure tube in 1983, causing the emergency shutdown of the Pickering nuclear reactor. Hydride has high hardness and very low toughness, and it tends to aggregate toward cooler or tensile regions, which initiates localized hydride precipitation and results in delayed hydride cracking. Notably, hydride reorientation under tensile stress substantially decreases the fracture toughness and increases the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature of Zr alloys, which reduces the safety of the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. Therefore, improving our knowledge of Zr hydrides is useful for effectively controlling hydride embrittlement in fuel assembly. The aim of this review is to reorganize the mechanisms of hydride nucleation and growth behaviors, hydride reorientation under external stress, and hydride-induced embrittlement. We revisit important examples of progress of research in this field and emphasize the key future aspects of research on Zr hydrides. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:15:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a1a68edd059b4d9ab606b08cdfe9dc0b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1944 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:15:32Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Materials |
| spelling | doaj.art-a1a68edd059b4d9ab606b08cdfe9dc0b2023-11-17T12:21:59ZengMDPI AGMaterials1996-19442023-03-01166241910.3390/ma16062419Mechanisms of Hydride Nucleation, Growth, Reorientation, and Embrittlement in Zirconium: A ReviewYu-Jie Jia0Wei-Zhong Han1Center for Advancing Materials Performance from the Nanoscale, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, ChinaCenter for Advancing Materials Performance from the Nanoscale, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, ChinaZirconium (Zr) hydrides threaten the reliability of fuel assembly and have repeatedly induced failures in cladding tubes and pressure vessels. Thus, they attract a broad range of research interests. For example, delayed hydride cracking induced a severe fracture and failure in a Zircaloy-2 pressure tube in 1983, causing the emergency shutdown of the Pickering nuclear reactor. Hydride has high hardness and very low toughness, and it tends to aggregate toward cooler or tensile regions, which initiates localized hydride precipitation and results in delayed hydride cracking. Notably, hydride reorientation under tensile stress substantially decreases the fracture toughness and increases the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature of Zr alloys, which reduces the safety of the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. Therefore, improving our knowledge of Zr hydrides is useful for effectively controlling hydride embrittlement in fuel assembly. The aim of this review is to reorganize the mechanisms of hydride nucleation and growth behaviors, hydride reorientation under external stress, and hydride-induced embrittlement. We revisit important examples of progress of research in this field and emphasize the key future aspects of research on Zr hydrides.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/6/2419zirconium hydridenucleationgrowthreorientationembrittlement |
| spellingShingle | Yu-Jie Jia Wei-Zhong Han Mechanisms of Hydride Nucleation, Growth, Reorientation, and Embrittlement in Zirconium: A Review Materials zirconium hydride nucleation growth reorientation embrittlement |
| title | Mechanisms of Hydride Nucleation, Growth, Reorientation, and Embrittlement in Zirconium: A Review |
| title_full | Mechanisms of Hydride Nucleation, Growth, Reorientation, and Embrittlement in Zirconium: A Review |
| title_fullStr | Mechanisms of Hydride Nucleation, Growth, Reorientation, and Embrittlement in Zirconium: A Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mechanisms of Hydride Nucleation, Growth, Reorientation, and Embrittlement in Zirconium: A Review |
| title_short | Mechanisms of Hydride Nucleation, Growth, Reorientation, and Embrittlement in Zirconium: A Review |
| title_sort | mechanisms of hydride nucleation growth reorientation and embrittlement in zirconium a review |
| topic | zirconium hydride nucleation growth reorientation embrittlement |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/6/2419 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yujiejia mechanismsofhydridenucleationgrowthreorientationandembrittlementinzirconiumareview AT weizhonghan mechanismsofhydridenucleationgrowthreorientationandembrittlementinzirconiumareview |