Delayed Hydride Cracking in Zirconium Alloys in Pressure Tube Nuclear Reactors

This report describes all of the research work undertaken as part of the IAEA coordinated research project on hydrogen and hydride induced degradation of the mechanical and physical properties of zirconium based alloys, and includes a review of the state of the art in understanding crack propagation by delayed hydride cracking (DHC), and details of the experimental procedures that have produced the most consistent set of DHC rates reported in an international round-robin exercise to this date.