Effects of stress on swelling in reactor fuel cladding

The purpose of this report is to describe the effect of stress on swelling in both annealed and 20% cold worked 316 stainless steel. An effect of stress on swelling in irradiated metals has been postulated for some time. Low fluence data confirmed that indeed a tensile stress can increase swelling in irradiated annealed 316 stainless steel and that the maximum swelling occurs at an intermediate stress level which is approximately equal to the proportional elastic limit of the material. The specimens discussed above were examined by transmission electron microscopy and an effect of stress on the microstructure of the annealed and 20% cold worked 316 specimens has been observed. Howver, as yet, copious swelling had not occurred in the 20% cold worked material. Specimens of 20% cold worked 316 fabricated from the same heat of material as those described above have now been irradiated to sufficiently high neutron fluences that swelling has occurred in both the annealed and cold worked conditions. Swelling increases linearly with stress for both materials. However, for solution annealed 316, swelling reaches a maximum at approximately 136 MPa, whereupon further increases in stress result in reduced swelling. It is felt that this reduction in swelling is related to the onset of plastic yielding in the material. The swelling observed in the 20% CW 316 and the solution annealed 316 below the maximum swelling stress can be adequately described by an equation of the form: S = S0(1 + Psigma). No strong effect of stress on changing the incubation period associated with void nucleation was found. (Auth.)