Mechanical and experimental investigation on nuclear fuel fretting

• Published in: Tribology international Vol. 39; no. 10; pp. 1305 - 1319
• Main Authors: Kim, Hyung-Kyu, Lee, Young-Ho, Heo, Sung-Pil
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Contact shape; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equivalent depth; Exact sciences and technology; Fission nuclear power plants; Fretting wear; Friction, wear, lubrication; Installations for energy generation and conversion: thermal and electrical energy; Machine components; Mechanical engineering. Machine design; Nuclear fuel fretting; Third body abrasion; Contact shape; Nuclear fuel fretting; Third body abrasion; Fretting wear; Equivalent depth; Water; Wear particle; Third body; Slip; Mechanical contact; Mechanical clearance; Experimental study; Spring; Modeling; Contact surface; Nuclear power plant; Contact stress; Spacer; Fuel; Groove; Fuel rod; Room temperature; Tribology
• ISSN: 0301-679X; 1879-2464
• DOI: 10.1016/j.triboint.2006.02.027

A mechanical approach to the nuclear fuel fretting problem is studied in this paper to find a possible and efficient way of a wear restraint. Two different contours of the spacer grid spring and dimple were developed to increase the contact area. Fretting wear experiments were carried out for the developed springs and tube specimens. Contact forces of 10 and 30 N, and slip displacements of 50–100 μm were applied under the environment of air as well as water at room temperature. Wear scars on the rods were examined to observe the effect of the mechanical approach on the wear. Especially, the influence of a contour deviation which occurred during fabrication and the wear particle accumulation in the clearance region were investigated in detail. It was found that the contact shape influenced the feature and the behavior of the length, width and volumetric shape of the wear. For the model of fuel fretting wear, equivalent depth ( D e) is suggested as a new parameter that can represent the wear severity.