Reduction of plastic anisotropy of zircaloy cladding by neutron irradiation, (i)

Abstract

Knoop hardness was measured in order to study plastic anisotropy of irradiated fuel cladding tubes. Results are summarized as follows. The lowest Knoop hardness was obtained when the indenter was so oriented that {1O10} <1210> prism slip played the dominant role in indentation formation. The dependence of Knoop hardness on neutron fluence implied that the damage caused by neutron irradiation affected the prism slip of a-zirconium more strongly. The considerable amount of plastic anisotropy observed in the unirradiated tubes showed a tendency to decrease with increasing neutron fluence. © 1987 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.