Mechanical and thermal properties of Zr-B and Fe-B alloys

After the core meltdown in the Fukushima Daiichi (1F) nuclear power plant, various compounds in metal boride systems could potentially form as a result of the reactions between B₄C (control material) and Fe, Zr alloys (control-blade sheaths, zircaloy claddings, channel box, etc.). Some previous studies have focused on the properties of intermetallic compounds of the Zr-B and Fe-B systems, such as ZrB₂, FeB, and Fe₂B. However, during the solidification of fuel debris, composites of these intermetallics rather than large chunks of single-phase intermetallics will form. This situation makes the understanding of the composition dependence of the mechanical and thermal properties of these metal borides a major task before debris retrieval takes place. In this study, we first investigated the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of Fe-B and Zr-B eutectics from room temperature up to 900degC. We were then able to evaluate the composition-dependent indentation hardness of these metal borides at room temperature. Based on our experimental data, we concluded that the hardness and thermal conductivity of the Fe-B, Zr-B composites can be well estimated using the properties of the composites' corresponding components, with Rule of Mixtures and Effective Medium Theory (EMT) calculations, respectively. (author)