PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING SEAMLESS PRESSURE TUBE OF DELAYED HYDRIDE CRACKING RESISTANCE ZIRCALOY

摘要

extruding and/or drawing a seamless pressure tube of a specified Zr alloy at high temperature; cross-rolling the extruded/drawn Zr alloy tube of smaller diameter than that finally required; and expanding the tube at a temperature below 600 deg.C without causing significant phase shift or deforming the expanding fixture. The Zr alloy includes Zircaloy-2, Zircaloy-4, Zr-2.5% Nb, Pute Zr etc. The seamless pressure tube has an improved fracture toughness, and good resistance to crack propagation caused by delayed hydride cracking.