This study explores the steam oxidation behavior of pure chromium coatings applied using high-velocity oxygen fuel spraying on Zircaloy-4 cladding substrates designed for accident-tolerant fuel applications. The research addresses the urgent need to improve the performance of fuel cladding materials during severe nuclear accidents.

Light water reactors (LWR) use zirconium-alloy fuel claddings, the tubes that hold the uranium-dioxide fuel pellets. Zr-alloys have very good neutron transparency, but during a loss of coolant accident or beyond design basis accident (BDBA) they can undergo excessive oxidation in reaction with the surrounding steam environment. Relatively thin oxidation-resistant coatings on Zr-alloy fuel cladding tubes can potentially buy coping time in these off-normal scenarios. In this study, cold spraying, solid-state powder-based materials deposition technology has been developed for deposition of oxidation-resistant Cr coatings on Zr-alloy cladding tubes, and the ensuing microstructure and properties of the coatings have been investigated. The coatings when deposited under optimum conditions have very good hydrothermal corrosion resistance as well as oxidation resistance in air and steam environments at temperatures in excess of 1100 °C, while maintaining excellent adhesion to the substrate. These and other results of this study, including mechanical property evaluations, will be presented.

This study investigates the co-deposition of aluminum and chromium oxides from solution precursor feedstocks with the aim of maximizing the α-alumina content. A hybrid water-stabilized plasma torch was used to spray the feedstock materials and the deposition principles were studied. The chemical composition of the deposits corresponded to the formulation of the feedstocks, indicating a uniform deposition of both materials. It was found that α-phase content can be increased in the coatings by increasing the Cr-forming precursor in the solution.

This study investigates the effect of thermal cycling on cold-spray chromium coatings deposited on steel substrates. First, equilibrium stress states are determined for different coating thicknesses. Next, the potential for crack initiation and growth is simulated based on periodic heating and cooling cycles. The corresponding crack driving forces are characterized using interface stresses and energy release rate as a function of the thermal cycles. The effects of coating thickness, embedded microcracks, and initial residual stress on the driving forces are investigated systematically to demonstrate the risk of coating fracture and delamination.

This paper describes the development of cold-sprayed chromium coatings that are used to increase the corrosion and wear resistance of zirconium-based nuclear fuel cladding tubes. Significant effort was necessary to deposit very thin layers of chromium on 4 m long, 10 mm diameter tubes by cold spraying. As explained in the paper, a final polishing step is used to reduce surface roughness and adjust coating thickness to the desired specifications.

In this work, a mechanically clad NiCr powder feedstock was deposited on alumina substrates by atmospheric plasma arc spraying. The resultant splats were analyzed for features such as interfacial bonding, splat classification and, critically, Cr distribution. Using a slice-and-view sectioning technique in a dual-beam FIB-SEM system, a representative splat exhibiting discrete Ni and Cr regions was physically deconstructed then reconstructed with visualization software to analyze individual layers with the splat. Although the powder feedstock contained Ni particles clad with clusters of Cr, the splats solidified into distinct layers of Ni and Cr with no signs of interaction between them. A model formulated based on this observation shows that the distribution of Cr cladding on the Ni particulates influences the amount and location of Cr around the solidified Ni splats.

Hot corrosion tests have been conducted on Ni- and Cr-based laser coatings, a high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) sprayed coating and various wrought alloys covered with a synthetic salt of Na 2 SO 4 -V 2 O 5 and exposed at 650°C for 1000 h in air. Coating microstructures and reaction product layers were analyzed with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The hot corrosion resistance of tested specimen was evaluated by measuring its mean thickness loss. Generally, wrought alloys, HVOF coating and Cr-based laser coatings suffered from selective corrosion beneath salt film, that is, distinct Cr-depleted layer was formed at alloy/salt interface. Cr-based laser coatings exhibited extended solid solubility and they transformed towards equilibrium condition. Cr-rich phases enriched further with Cr and they were prone to corrosion. Low diluted laser coatings and HVOF coating were more resistant to hot corrosion than commonly used industrial standard alloy, Nimonic 80A. Ni-based laser coating exhibited resistance equivalent to Cr-based coatings and superior to corresponding wrought alloy.

Properties of an erosion resistant Cr 3 C 2 - NiCr coating have been studied as a function of both plasma spraying process variables and heat treatment. The as-sprayed Cr 3 C 2 - NiCr coating revealed low hardness value of 380-470 Hv, which provided the coating with a poor erosion resistance. This is directly attributed to the decomposition of Cr 3 C 2 constituent into Cr 7 C 3 and graphite phases during the spraying. It was not the effective way to control the process variables such as arc current and stand-off distance for preventing the decomposition of Cr 3 C 2 constituent. A proper heat treatment on the as-sprayed coating increases the hardness of the coating in a great extent up to 900Hv so that the erosion resistance of the coating is clearly improved. This was confirmed to be attributed to the recovery of Cr 3 C 2 at the expense of graphite phase and the formation of Cr 2 O 3 by the heat treatment. In addition, the formation of Cr 2 O 3 phase plays an important role of increasing the erosion resistance of the coating by healing the microcracks of the as-sprayed coating. These are the microstructural features responsible for the high erosion resistance of the coating after a proper heat treatment.

High velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) experiments were carried out with Diamond Jet (DJ) 2600 and 2700, P-5000, Jet Kote and Top Gun to investigate the influence of the spray system and of the spray parameters on microstructure and properties of Cr3C2-NiCr coatings. The results show that with all applied HVOF systems Cr3C2-NiCr coatings of high density, high bond strength and high wear resistance can be produced. However, microstructure and properties of the coatings mainly depend on the degree of oxidation and carbon loss of the material during the spray process. Due to the relatively low heating of the spray material the decarburization of CrsCa-NiCr was found to be very low using the HVOF systems DJ 2600, DJ 2700 and JP-5000. Additionally favored by the increased particle velocities coatings sprayed with the Diamond Jet systems and the JP- 5000 exceed coatings produced with the traditional HVOF systems with regard to hardness, wear resistance and bond strength.