SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1990
STP49471S

Evaluation of Ring Tensile Test Results—A Semiempirical Approach

Ring specimens of 5-mm width cut from Zircaloy-2 cladding of reactor operated fuel elements that had experienced 5000 to 15 000 MWD/T of fuel burnup were subjected to ring tensile testing. The true stress-true strain data points up to the onset of necking from the individual load-elongation curves of these specimens were used as input data in Voce's equation. The results revealed that the uniform elongation (UE) values generated using Voce's equation were within (UE − 2)% of the experimental percent uniform elongation (UE%). The corresponding ultimate tensile strength values were within ±1%.

The uncertainty inherently associated in the determination of gauge length introduces extraneous deformation in the rings tested. Previous results had shown that a 14% increase in cladding diameter caused the gauge length to increase by 40%. To simulate the contribution of extraneous deformation due to an increase in cladding diameter, an analysis of the variation of the tensile parameters (uniform elongation and ultimate tensile strength) due to increase in the gauge length in the range of 10 to 40% was carried out. The results indicated that the corresponding increase in uniform elongation could vary in the range up to 6 to 27%, and the variation in ultimate tensile strength remained within 1%. Therefore, we felt that with the semiempirical approach of treating the data points obtained from the experimental load elongation curve with Voce's equation, the uncertainty associated with ring tensile testing method for the determination of cladding ductility could be minimized.

Author Information

Chatterjee, Subrata
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay, India
Anantharaman, S.
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay, India
Balakrishnan, K., S.
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay, India
Sivaramakrishnan, K., S.
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay, India
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Developed by Committee: E10
Pages: 515–524
DOI: 10.1520/STP49471S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-8887-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-1266-7