Review of stress fields in Zirconium alloys corrosion scales

A review of the data available in the literature on the residual stress determination in zirconia scales has been undertaken. Deflexion method and curvature measurement as well as Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction have been used. Stress magnitudes obtained by different authors vary between a few hundred of MPa and more than 5Gpa, depending on the parameters investigated such as oxidized alloy, oxidation atmosphere and temperature. The influence of the later on both the average stress magnitudes and also on its evolution has been determined, and the stress release processes have been discussed.