Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Energy Engineering

Institute of Physics of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, V.v.i.

Jan Skarohlid

Irena Kratochvilova

Andrew James Taylor

Radek Skoda

Frantisek Fendrych

A layer protecting the surface of zirconium alloys used as materials for nuclear reactors is formed by a homogenous polycrystalline diamond layer prepared by chemical vapor deposition method. This diamond layer is 100 nm to 50 &#x3bc;m thick and the size of the crystalline cores in the layer ranges from 10 nm to 500 nm. Maximum content of non-diamond carbon is 25 mol %, total content of non-carbon impurities is maximum up to 0.5 mol %, RMS surface roughness of the polycrystalline diamond layer has a value less than 40 nm and thermal conductivity of the layer ranges from 1000 to 1900 W&#x2299;m&#x2299;K. Coating of the zirconium alloys surface with the described polycrystalline diamond layer serves as a zirconium alloys surface protection against undesirable changes and processes in the nuclear reactor environment.

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Prague, Czechia

Jan Skarohlid