Determination of the residual stress tensor in textured zirconium alloy by neutron diffraction

Results of neutron diffraction studies of crystallographic texture and residual stress tensor components in cold-worked and annealed cylindrical components made from E-110 zirconium alloy are presented. Those components are used as plugs in the fuel elements of the VVER-type reactors; the resident residual stresses influence the durability and safety of the fuel elements. The experiments were carried out on the neutron diffractometers at Dubna (the IBR-2 pulsed reactor) and Berlin Helmholtz–Zentrum (the BER II research reactor). It is shown that the samples have fiber texture that is changed considerably with annealing. The type I residual stress tensors for both samples were calculated by the BulkPathGEO model. The cold worked component has 136–166 MPa tensile residual stress in the radial direction and zero stress along the axial direction. Residual stress values in the annealed component are close to zero.