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Hydrogen evolution and corrosion behavior of zirconium tubing in sub‐ and supercritical water
Author(s) -
Choudhry Kashif I.,
Svishchev Igor M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
materials and corrosion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.487
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1521-4176
pISSN - 0947-5117
DOI - 10.1002/maco.201911082
Subject(s) - zirconium alloy , zirconium , hydrogen , supercritical fluid , cladding (metalworking) , corrosion , materials science , coolant , oxygen , chemical engineering , metallurgy , chemistry , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , engineering , physics
Hydrogen evolution is inevitable during the oxidation of zirconium in high‐temperature water. A fraction of this evolved hydrogen diffuses into the cladding material, and the remaining is carried away by the reactor coolant. In this study, hydrogen evolution and corrosion behavior of zirconium‐702 in high‐temperature water are investigated using a continuous tubular flow‐through reactor. The results show that at a constant pressure of 25 MPa, the evolution of hydrogen gas from an oxidized zirconium reactor surface is approximately 24 times larger at 500°C than at 350°C. At higher temperatures, the zirconium reactor tubing exposed to water shows ballooning, with bending before the rupture near the exit end of the reactor tube, where the concentration of evolved hydrogen is the highest.