Ring Compression Testing of Prehydrided PWR Cladding with Hydride Blisters

摘要

The ductile-brittle behavior of nuclear fuel cladding witha hydride blister has been studied in this work. To thisend, two type of blisters with different size andmorphology were prepared in the laboratory. Sampleswith each type of blister were subjected to the ringcompression test (RCT) at 20 °C and a fractographicstudy was carried out on the tested samples.For one of the blisters, the samples showed a ductilebehavior in all the studied cases. However, for the othertype of blister, the samples showed a brittle behaviorwhen the blister was located at 12 o’clock position duringthe test and a ductile behavior when the blister was at 3o’clock position.In addition, a fractographic study was carried out duringthis work.