• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2003

Sliding and impact/sliding wear test in room temperature air and water were performed to evaluate the effect of spring shapes on the wear mechanism of a fuel rod. The main focus was to quantitatively compare the wear behavior of a fuel rod with different support springs (i.e. two concaves, a convex and a flat shape) using a ratio of wear volume to worn area (De)-The results indicated that the wear volumes at each spring condition were varied with the change of test environment and loading type. However, the relationship between the wear volume and worn area was determined by only spring shape even though the wear tests were carried out at different test conditions. From the above results, the optimized spring shape which has more wear-resistant could be determined using the analysis results of the relation between the variation of De and worn surface observations in each test condition.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.47-51
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• 2003

Sliding wear tests have been carried out in room temperature air and water in order to compare the wear resistance of Zr-xNb-xSn alloys of various alloying elements (Nb and Sn). The main focus was to quantitatively compare the wear properties of the recently developed Zr-xNb-xSn alloys with the commercial ones using the evaluation parameters of the wear resistance with the consideration of the worn area. As a result, the recently developed alloys had a similar wear resistance compared with the commercial ones. The dominant factor governing the wear resistance was the protruded volume of the wear debris that was formed on the worn area in the air condition, but the accommodation of the plastic deformation on the contact area in water. In addition, the worn area size appeared to be very different depending on the tested alloys. To evaluate the wear resistance of each test specimen, the ratio of the wear volume or the protruded volume to the worn area ($D_e$ or $D_p$) is investigated and proposed as the evaluation parameters of the wear resistance.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.256-261
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• 2004

To evaluate the effect of spring shape on the fretting wear of nuclear fuel rod, sliding wear tests were performed using three kinds of space grid springs in room temperature air and water. With increasing slip amplitude, wear volume of each spring gradually increased. It is apparently shown that spring with convex shape had a relatively high wear resistance compared with concave shape springs. It is suggested that the ratio of the wear volume to the worn area can be suggested as an efficient and valid parameter to evaluate the wear resistibility of a fuel grid spring.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.313-323
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• 2003

The sliding wear behaviors of Zircaloy-4 nuclear fuel rod were investigated using two support springs with convex and concave shapes in room temperature air and water. The main focus is to compare the wear behavior of various test variables such as slip amplitude, environment, contact contours with different spring shape and a number of cycles. The results indicated that wear volume and maximum wear depth increased with slip amplitude in both air and water, but their trends tended to change according to the spring shapes and test environments. In air condition, the wear volume was controlled by wear debris behavior generated on worn surface. As a result, final wear volume and maximum wear depth decreased if a ratio of protruded wear volume to worn area $(D_p)$ would be saturated to specific value. This is because wear particle layer could accommodate large strain by accumulating and transforming wear particle layer. However, in water condition, metal-to metal contact was more dominant and wear volume was greatly affected by changed mechanical behavior between contact surfaces since wear debris should be generated after repeated plastic deformation and fracture. After wear test, worn surfaces were examined using optical microscope and SEM and details of wear mechanism were discussed using a ratio of wear volume to worn area $(D_e)$ at each test condition.