Abstract
A program to develop new methods to measure the fracture strength of the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) SiC coatings in nuclear fuel particles has been carried out. Internal pressurization and crush test techniques were developed and applied to prototype-sized tubular and hemispherical shell specimens. The fracture strength measured from each test method applying the Weibull two-parameter distribution, and Weibull parameters measured. It was shown that data generated with each test technique were independent of the test technique applied. This implies the developed test methods are reliable and provide reasonable strength data. For the same material, fracture strength varied with the specimen geometry and loading configuration. This size and loading configuration effects on the fracture strength are explained with the concept of effective surface.
