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Hydride reorientation can occur in spent nuclear fuel cladding when subjected to a tensile hoop stress above a threshold value during cooling. Because in these circumstances the cladding is under a multiaxial stress state, the effect of stress biaxiality on the threshold stress for hydride reorientation is investigated using hydrided CWSR Zircaloy-4 sheet specimens containing ~180 wt. ppm of hydrogen and subjected to a two-cycle thermo-mechanical treatment. The study is based on especially designed specimens within which the stress biaxiality ratios range from uniaxial (σ 2 /σ 1 =0) to "near-equibiaxial" tension (σ 2 /σ 1 =0.8). The threshold stress is determined by mapping finite element calculations of the principal stresses and of the stress biaxiality ratio onto the hydride microstructure obtained after the thermo-mechanical treatment. The results show that the threshold stress (maximum principal stress) decreases from 155 to 75 MPa as the stress biaxiality increases from uniaxial to "near-equibiaxial" tension.

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The d-spacing evolution of both in-plane and out-of-plane hydrides has been studied using in situ synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction during thermo-mechanical cycling of cold-worked stress-relieved Zircaloy-4. The structure of the hydride precipitates is such that the δ{111} d-spacing of the planes aligned with the hydride platelet face is greater than the d-spacing of the 111 planes aligned with the platelet edges. Upon heating from room temperature, the δ{111} planes aligned with hydride plate edges exhibit bi-linear thermally-induced expansion. In contrast, the d-spacing of the (111) plane aligned with the hydride plate face initially contracts upon heating. These experimental results can be understood in terms of a reversal of stress state associated with precipitating or dissolving hydride platelets within the αzirconium matrix.

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