Experimental evaluation of the rolling reduction and heat-treatment effects on the texture and creep behavior of a Zricaloy-4 sheet

Abstract

The effect of manufacturing conditions such as a rolling reduction and the final heat-treatment condition on the texture and creep behavior was investigated for the Zircaloy-4 sheet. Various microstructural characteristics could be obtained in this study by controlling of the rolling reduction from 30 to 70% and the final heat-treatment conditions up to 600°C. The crystallographic texture of the prepared Zircaloy-4 sheet was evaluated by using the XRD for the rolling plane. The creep test of the sheet was performed under a constant applied stress at a temperature at 380°C with an axial stress of 120MPa for the three directions of 0°, 90°, and 45° in the rolling direction. From a comparison of the Kearns number for the normal direction of the sheet, the texture was developed with an increasing rolling reduction, and was somewhat affected by the final annealing conditions. The creep strain was decreased by adding a final annealing, and it was considerably affected by the test direction, because it was observed that the 45° direction in the rolling direction revealed the highest creep strain among the three types of test directions. © 2008 The Japan Institute of Metals.