APPLICATION OF THIN-LAYER ACTIVATION TECHNIQUE FOR SURFACE WEAR STUDIES IN ZR BASED MATERIALS USING CHARGED-PARTICLE INDUCED NUCLEAR-REACTIONS

Thin layer activation (TLA) technique has been developed in Zr based a lloy materials, e.g., zircaloy II, using 40 MeV alpha-particles from V ariable Energy Cyclotron Centre at Calcutta. A brief description of th e methodology of TLA technique is presented to determine the surface w ear. The sensitivity of the measurement of surface wear in zircaloy ma terial is found to be 0.22 +/- 0.05 mu m. The surface wear is determin ed by TLA technique in zircaloy material which is used in pressurised heavy water reactor and the values have been compared with that obtain ed by conventional technique for the analytical validation of the TLA technique. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.