From observation to understanding: Approach to analysis of wear mechanisms, Case of RCCAs and CRDM latch arms

Component wear can affect the ability of a component to fulfill its required function. For a designer or user, it is reasonable to expect possible wear occurrence as soon as parts are in relative motion. It is less obvious to extend this possibility to motions with small or very small amplitudes and loads. However, it has to be admitted that such cases exist. It then becomes imperative to determine the wear mechanisms so that the lifetime of the components and the optimum date of their replacement can be predicted or the degradation can be remedied. For this purpose, standard and widely accepted practice is to carry out simulator tests. Through examples of wear from nuclear reactor components such as the RCCAs (Rod Cluster Control Assembly) and the CRDM (Control Rod Drive Mechanism) latch arms, an approach for understanding the wear mechanisms and controlling their effects can be undertaken. Cases of wear have been observed on real-life parts, but the first simulator tests have shown deviations from in-reactor behaviour. Comparative examination of the wear facies of actual parts which have operated in reactor or simulators, both control rods and CRDM latch arms, was the key starting point for a new analytical approach, incorporating the formulation of wear mechanism hypotheses which can account for the observed facies. Expert assessment thus highlighted the importance of the environment by revealing that the wear featured a large component linked to friction-assisted corrosion. By including this tribo-corrosion aspect, it became possible to reach understanding of the mechanisms and account for the wear observed in reactor and on simulators. Further well-controlled simulator tests then made it possible to verify the importance of the tribo-corrosion processes in a pressurized water medium. Analysis of the physical chemical behaviour of the original materials (austenitic stainless steel) also explains why these surface modifications limit or remedy wear-induced degradations, which accounts for the supply of more than 4000 RCCAs whose nitrided rods do not exhibit any quantifiable wear in the treated zones. (author)