Crack growth in the through-thickness direction of hydrided thin-wall Zircaloy sheet

In a reactivity-initiated accident, cladding failure may occur by crack initiation within a defect such as a hydride rim or blister and subsequent crack propagation through the thickness of the thin-wall cladding. In such a circumstance, determining the cladding resistance to crack propagation in the through-thickness direction is crucial to predicting cladding failure. To address this issue, through-thickness crack propagation in hydrided Zircaloy-4 sheet was analyzed at 25 °C, 300 °C, and 375 °C. At 25 °C, the fracture toughness decreased with increasing hydrogen content and with an increasing fraction of radial hydrides. Hydride particles fractured ahead of the crack tip, creating a path for crack growth. At both 300 °C and 375 °C, the resistance to crack-growth initiation was sufficiently high that crack extension was often caused by crack-tip blunting. There was no evidence of hydride particles fracturing near the crack tip, and no significant effect of hydrogen content on fracture toughness was observed at these elevated temperatures.