Modified ring stretch tensile testing of Zr-1Nb cladding.

In a round robin effort between the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Institut de Protection et de Surete Nucleaire in France, and the Russian Research Centre-Kurchatov Institute, Argonne National Laboratory conducted 16 modified ring stretch tensile tests on unirradiated samples of Zr-1Nb cladding, which is used in Russian VVER reactors. Tests were conducted at two temperatures (25 and 400 C) and two strain rates (0.001 and 1 s{sup {minus}1}). At 25 C and 0.001 s{sup {minus}1}, the yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), uniform elongation (UE), and total elongation (TE) were 201 MPa, 331 MPa, 18.2%, and 57.6%, respectively. At 400 C and 0.001 s{sup {minus}1}, the YS, UTS, UE, and TE were 109 MPa, 185 MPa, 15.4%, and 67.7%, respectively. Finally, at 400 C and 1 s{sup {minus}1}, the YS, UTS, UE, and TE were 134 MPa, 189 MPa, 18.9%, and 53.4%, respectively. The high strain rate tests at room temperature were not successful. Test results proved to be very sensitive to the amount of lubrication used on the inserts; because of the large contact area between the inserts and specimen, too little lubrication leads to significantly higher strengths and lower elongations being reported. It is also important to note that only 70 to 80% of the elongation takes place in the gauge section, depending on specimen geomeq. The appropriate percentage can be estimated from a simple model or can be calculated from finite-element analysis.