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<p>Evaluating the mechanical properties of thin-walled small-diameter tubes is challenging, particularly, when the material exhibits strong anisotropy. For Zircaloy fuel-clad tubes, the transverse (hoop) properties differ significantly from those in the longitudinal direction. Due to the small diameter, standard uniaxial tensile testing is impractical; therefore, ring tension tests are widely used. However, these tests are affected by friction between the specimen and loading mandrels as well as by a multiaxial stress state in the gauge region which lead to overestimation of strength. In this work, these effects are addressed through a new methodology that corrects the experimental load–displacement data using a correlation derived from finite element (FE) analysis. The results of the FEM-based approach were validated by comparison with standard uniaxial tensile test data. The correlation was subsequently applied to evaluate the transverse mechanical properties of Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding over a wide temperature range of 25-900&#xa0;°C. FE simulations indicated that the apparent load–carrying capacity increases by about 20% as the coefficient of friction (<i>μ</i>) rises from 0 to 1 and the derived normalization factor exhibits a power-law dependence on <i>μ</i>. The corrected yield and ultimate tensile strengths decreased from approximately 555 to 34&#xa0;MPa and from 594 to 37&#xa0;MPa, respectively, as temperature increased from 25 to 800&#xa0;°C while ductility peaked near 800&#xa0;°C. The proposed correlation provides a reliable framework for friction correction and accurate evaluation of high-temperature mechanical properties of Zircaloy-4 and similar thin-walled tubular materials used in nuclear and industrial applications.</p>

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Evaluation of Transverse Mechanical Properties of Zircaloy-4 Fuel Cladding Using a Finite Element Method-Based Friction-Corrected Ring Tension Test and Experimental Validation

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月10日

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  • A. Syed,
  • M. K. Samal

摘要

Evaluating the mechanical properties of thin-walled small-diameter tubes is challenging, particularly, when the material exhibits strong anisotropy. For Zircaloy fuel-clad tubes, the transverse (hoop) properties differ significantly from those in the longitudinal direction. Due to the small diameter, standard uniaxial tensile testing is impractical; therefore, ring tension tests are widely used. However, these tests are affected by friction between the specimen and loading mandrels as well as by a multiaxial stress state in the gauge region which lead to overestimation of strength. In this work, these effects are addressed through a new methodology that corrects the experimental load–displacement data using a correlation derived from finite element (FE) analysis. The results of the FEM-based approach were validated by comparison with standard uniaxial tensile test data. The correlation was subsequently applied to evaluate the transverse mechanical properties of Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding over a wide temperature range of 25-900 °C. FE simulations indicated that the apparent load–carrying capacity increases by about 20% as the coefficient of friction (μ) rises from 0 to 1 and the derived normalization factor exhibits a power-law dependence on μ. The corrected yield and ultimate tensile strengths decreased from approximately 555 to 34 MPa and from 594 to 37 MPa, respectively, as temperature increased from 25 to 800 °C while ductility peaked near 800 °C. The proposed correlation provides a reliable framework for friction correction and accurate evaluation of high-temperature mechanical properties of Zircaloy-4 and similar thin-walled tubular materials used in nuclear and industrial applications.