In the tests, it was found that Zircaloy-4 is susceptible to forming corrosion films which have surface irregularities which eyeballing the pictures appear to be on the order of a micron or so in height.
22.
:I don't know what Zr-4 is ( do you mean Zircaloy-4 ( Zry-4 ) ? ) or exactly how you plan to swage the two, but this link may help you.
23.
It is made of a corrosion-resistant material with low absorption cross section for thermal neutrons, usually Zircaloy or steel in modern constructions, or magnesium with small amount of aluminium and other metals for the now-obsolete Magnox reactors.
24.
During a meltdown, the temperature of the fuel rods increases and they can deform, in the case of Zircaloy cladding, above 700 900 �C . If the reactor pressure is low, the pressure inside the fuel rods ruptures the control rod cladding.
25.
The Nuclear Steam Supply System ( NSSS ) for each unit was planned to be a pressurized water reactor manufactured by Combustion Engineering, Inc . The reactor fuel was planned to be zircaloy clad uranium dioxide with a maximum enrichment of 3.6 wt . percent.
26.
Uranium dioxide resists corrosion in water and provides a stable matrix for many of the fission products; however to prevent fission products ( such as the noble gases ) from leaving the uranium dioxide matrix and entering the coolant, the pellets of fuel are normally encased in tubes of a corrosion-resistant metal alloy ( normally Zircaloy for water-cooled reactors ).
