THE OXIDATION AND CORROSION OF ZIRCONIUM AND ITS ALLOYS Ⅷ:THE EFFECT OF NEUTRON IRRADIATION ON THE DISSOLUTION RATE OF Zr02

摘要

This process is pictured as one of dissolution of the protective oxide and reprecipitation of a non-protective oxide. Under these circumstances sampling of the solution during irradiation and estimation of its zirconium content will not produce any information of value since the stationary concentration of zirconium in solution, which is low and will be attained quickly, is unlikely to be affected by irradiation, and does not bear any relation to the dissolution rate at the oxide-solution interface. Any dissolution and reprecipitation of ZrO2 which does take place would be a continuous process owing to the non-isothermal conditions obtaining at the solution-oxide interface, and indeed throughout the inpile loop experiments in which the majority of the American data was obtained.