Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to determine the feasibility of identifying the creep rupture of reactor cladding tubes using acoustic emission technique (AET).
Design/methodology/approach
– The creep rupture tests were carried out by pressuring stainless steel capsules upto 6 MPa at room temperature and then heating continuously in a furnace upto rupture. The acoustic emission (AE) signals generated during the creep rupture tests were recorded using a 150 kHz resonant sensor and analysed using AE Win software.
Findings
– When rupture occurs in the pressurized capsule tube representing the cladding tube, AE sensor attached to a waveguide captures the mechanical disturbance from the capsule and these data can be advantageously used to identify the creep rupture event of the cladding tube.
Practical implications
– The creep rupture data of fuel clad tube is very important in design and for smooth operation of nuclear reactors without fuel pin failure in reactors.
Originality/value
– AE is an advanced non-destructive evaluation technique. This technique has been successfully applied for on-line monitoring of creep rupture of the reactor cladding tube which otherwise could be detected by thermocouple readings only.
