Analysis of worn area characteristic in the fretting wear of nuclear fuel cladding

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