SEDL / STP / STP821-EB / STP34432S

A Fracture Mechanics Model for Iodine Stress Corrosion Crack Propagation in Zircaloy Tubing

Crescimanno, PJ
Senior Engineer, Principal Engineer, and Manager, LWBR Project, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Campbell, WR
Senior Engineer, Principal Engineer, and Manager, LWBR Project, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Goldberg, I
Senior Engineer, Principal Engineer, and Manager, LWBR Project, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Pages: 20    Published: Jan 1984

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Abstract

A fracture mechanics model is presented for iodine-induced stress corrosion cracking in Zircaloy tubing. The model utilizes a power law to relate crack extension velocity to stress intensity factor, a hyperbolic tangent function for the influence of iodine concentration, and an exponential function for the influence of temperature and material strength. Comparisons of predicted to measured failure times show that predicted times are within a factor of two of the measured times for a majority of the specimens considered.