Optical and Structural Studies of Films Grown Thermally on Zirconium Surfaces
Abstract
Zirconium alloys are used in many applications because of their corrosion resistance to harsh chemicals. The environmental passivity of zirconium-based materials is attributable to a protective oxide film that grows on its surface. Variable angle infrared (IR) reflection spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are used to determine the thickness and morphology of such films grown thermally on Zr surfaces in air. For pure zirconium, the density and homogeneity of the films increases with temperature in the range studied (773 - 873 K) and growth at the highest temperature follows cubic rate law kinetics. Cubic kinetics hold for Zircaloy-2 throughout this temperature range, and in this case we are able to extract an apparent activation energy of 227 kJ/mol. We also demonstrate a structure-property relationship for these thermally grown films.
- Publication:
-
APS March Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- March 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002APS..MARH33096F