Experimental and numerical investigation on the shearing process of stainless steel thin-walled tubes in the spent fuel reprocessing

摘要

The SUS304 stainless steel thin-walled tube (SUS304 tube) is an important part of the simulated spent fuel assembly (SSFA). During the shearing process, owing to the high ductility and malleability of the SUS304 tube, the local stress concentration easily occurs on the shear tool, resulting in such damages as tool tipping and breaking. However, the investigation on the shearing of the SUS304 tube has been scarce so far. In this contribution, the modified Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman model (GTN-J model) was adopted to investigate the fracture mechanism of the SUS304 tube under the complex stress state. It is proved that the GTN-J model performs perfectly in the simulation of the entire shearing process by comparing the results of shear experiments with simulations. Moreover, The results reveal that the local stress concentration of the shear tool is mainly caused by irregular plastic deformation of the SUS304 tube.