Seminars Archive

Development of Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubes for nuclear reactors inArgentina: studies along the manufacturing processes

Abstract
Zirconium alloys are the reference materials for the structural components which operate into the nuclear power reactors. They resume the best qualities regarding mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and low neutron capture cross section. The reactor operating conditions are particularly severe: temperatures around 300 C, neutron irradiation and corrosion. These conditions produce changes in the material properties which ask for many different evaluations. During years the most of the studies in this field were concentrated in metallurgical traditional techniques like mechanical testing, fracture toughness or metallography. However, with the advent of the powerful neutron and x-ray sources, the diffraction based micro analytical techniques are being applied to go deeper into the knowledge of the microstructure, looking for insights between the original properties and its degradation processes. The present talk is about our exploration of these possibilities.