About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
Symposium
|
Environmentally Assisted Cracking: Theory and Practice
|
Presentation Title |
A Comprehensive Study to Evaluate Sensitization of As-fabricated Coated TPBAR Cladding |
Author(s) |
Ramprashad Prabhakaran, Venkateshkumar Prabhakaran, Dan Edwards, David Senor, Andy Casella |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Ramprashad Prabhakaran |
Abstract Scope |
A comprehensive sensitization study was performed to evaluate as-fabricated coated tritium-producing burnable absorber rod (TPBAR) cladding that has higher potential for sensitization due to the aluminide coating process by utilizing various techniques, such as optical metallography, SEM, electrolytic etching, electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation (EPR) and scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM). SEM showed that coated specimens have a significant number of carbides on grain boundaries indicating a degree of sensitization. Metallographic etching revealed step and ditched microstructures in uncoated and coated samples, respectively. The effect was higher near the inner surface (coating side). EPR single loop and double loop tests showed that the corrosion current and normalized charge of coated specimens is about three orders of magnitude higher than that of uncoated specimens. SECCM showed that the corrosion current close to the inner surface is much higher. This correlated well with the microstructure of coated specimens after the EPR double loop test. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
Keywords |
Environmental Effects, Nuclear Materials, Characterization |