| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Composite Materials for Nuclear Applications II
|
| Presentation Title |
Stress Rupture of SiC/SiC Composite Tubes Under High-temperature Steam: Implications for Resistance to Light Water Reactor Accident |
| Author(s) |
Takaaki Koyanagi, Omer Karakoc, Charles Hawkins, Edgar Lara-Curzio, Yutai Katoh |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Takaaki Koyanagi |
| Abstract Scope |
SiC fiber–reinforced SiC matrix composite cladding for light water reactors must withstand high-temperature steam oxidation in a loss-of-coolant accident scenario (LOCA). Currently, it is not well characterized how the composite would behave under high-temperature steam when the carbon interphases and SiC fibers are exposed to the environment. We report results from stress rupture tests of prototypic SiC composite cladding at 1,000°C under steam and inert environments. The applied stress was beyond the initial cracking stress. The failure life under steam was shorter than the life under an inert environment, where 75% of the specimens did not fail after three hours of total exposure under inert gases. Microstructural observations suggest that steam oxidation activated slow crack growth in the fibers, which led to failure of the composite. The results from this study suggest that stress rupture in steam environments could be a limiting factor of the cladding under reactor LOCA conditions. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Ceramics, Composites, |