Hydrogen Permeation in FeCrAl APMT Alloy for Accident Tolerant Fuel Cladding

Abstract

Iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys such as APMT (advanced powder metallurgy tubing) are candidate materials to replace zirconium alloys for the light water reactor fuel cladding. This alloy meets the requirements to be a material more tolerant of high-temperature accidents than the current zirconium alloys. One concern is that the use of FeCrAl may result in an increase in tritium presence in the coolant compared to the current design. The aim of the current research was to obtain effective diffusion coefficients (Deff) for hydrogen through APMT using the Devanathan-Stachurski cell. Results showed that at 30°C the Deff value was 2.8 × 10−8 cm2/s. Results also showed a linear relationship between the permeated hydrogen flux and the inverse of the test specimen thickness, which demonstrated the validity of the permeation measurements.