Experimental study and numerical simulation of high temperature (1100–1250 °C) oxidation of prior-oxidized zirconium alloy

Highlights: • We reproduced the dissolution and re-growth of the oxide layer with the EKINOX-Zr model when we simulate the high temperature oxidation of a Zircaloy-4 sample with 30 μm of prior-oxide. • There is no protective effect of the prior-oxide regarding the post-quench ductility. • EKINOX-Zr is able to calculate the remaining thickness of the ductile prior-β_Zr phase as a function of the oxidation conditions. • The remaining thickness of the ductile prior-β_Zr phase strongly depends on the temperature oxidation and on the oxygen criterion for the ductile-brittle transition of the β_Zr. - Abstract: Previous experiments showed that the thickness of a thick prior-oxide layer formed on Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding can decrease during the first seconds at very high-temperature, before re-growing. We confirmed these results with oxidations performed at 1200 °C on prior-oxidized Zircaloy-4. The initial reduction of the prior-oxide was explained by the balance of the oxygen fluxes at the metal/oxide interface and successfully reproduced by numerical simulations using a diffusion-reaction model. Different hypotheses were considered for the diffusion coefficients of oxygen in the different layers. This allowed discussing the effect of the prior-oxidation on the kinetics of oxygen embrittlement of the metallic substrate.