Key Impact Factors Analysis of Fuel Rod End Plug Welding Based on QFD

Abstract

Manufacturing defects of fuel rod end plug during welding affect fuel reliability. Failure of ring welding or sealing welding of fuel rod end plug during operation will cause fission gas to enter primary coolant of reactor. In order to determine the sensitivity of the influence of relevant characteristic parameters on the performance of fuel rods during end plug welding, based on the Quality Function Deployment method (QFD) and taking tungsten-inert-gas arc welding (TIG) as an example, the characteristic parameters of fuel rod end plug welding are analyzed. Combined with the experimental results, a correlation matrix between welding parameters and welding performance is constructed by LIKERT scale method with focus on the main welding performance criteria such as welding joint size, color, depth of fusion, metallography (bloating, porosity, inclusion, grain boundary separation, etc.), oxidation resistance, etc. And after rating its correlation degree and importance degree, the relevant House of Quality of end plug welding is constructed, and the key impact parameters are identified. Based on the above analysis, some feasible optimization and improvement proposals are put forward for the quality supervision and welding process of fuel element manufacturing factory.