Understanding Crack Formation at the Metal/Oxide Interface During Corrosion of Zircaloy-4 Using a Simple Mechanical Model*16th International Symposium on Zirconium in the Nuclear Industry, 9th May 2010 – 13th May 2010, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

It has been established in previous works that corrosion kinetics in primary water of various zirconium alloys are periodic. Each period is associated with a layer of cracks parallel to the metal-oxide interface. These observations have been made either in autoclave or in pile. This indicates that corrosion processes in autoclave and under irradiation are of similar nature though their absolute kinetics might be different. Taking advantage of …