Protective coating to reduce stress corrosion cracking of zircaloy fuel sheathing

摘要

A protective coating (10) to reduce stress corrosion cracking of zirconium alloy sheathing (4) in nuclear reactors. The coating (10) is graphite based and includes ZrO 2 and ethylcellulose and acts as a sacrificial layer to immobilize fission products by formation of Zr x l y C type compounds which do not cause stress corrosion cracking.