| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1564647 | Journal of Nuclear Materials | 2016 | 9 Pages |
•Model developed to predict effect of thermal and irradiation exposure on precipitates in zirconium alloys.•Model applied to predict effect of changing irradiation dose rate and temperature on precipitates in Zircaloy-4.•Model reveals competition between thermal coarsening and irradiation-induced dissolution.•Model identifies important areas for further study to understand re-precipitation of precipitates after dissolution.
The second phase precipitates (SPPs) in zirconium alloys are critical in controlling their performance. During service, SPPs are subject to both thermal and irradiation effects that influence volume fraction, number, and size. In this paper, a model has been developed to capture the combined effect of thermal and irradiation exposure on the Zr(Fe,Cr)2 precipitates in Zircaloy. The model includes irradiation induced precipitate destabilization integrated into a classical size class model for nucleation, growth and coarsening. The model has been applied to predict the effect of temperature and irradiation on SPP evolution. Increasing irradiation displacement rate is predicted to strongly enhance the loss of particles that arises from coarsening alone. The effect of temperature is complex due to competition between coarsening and irradiation damage. As temperature increases, coarsening is predicted to become increasingly important compared to irradiation induced dissolution and may increase resistance to irradiation induced dissolution by increasing particle size.
