Influence of alloying on the service properties of vanadium and its alloys

Methods of improving the high-tempera ture strength and corrosion resistance of vanadium and certain alloys used in reactors

“…We established that, in the temperature range of deformation strain aging, the concentration dependences of the maximum hardening of vanadium containing nitrogen and oxygen can be described as follows: ACy = A 9 CN+o, where C is the total concentration of interstitial elements (mass %) and A is the hardening coefficient of vanadium, close to 1700 MPa/mass %. The capability of vanadium of forming continuous series of solid solutions with most metals whose melting points are close to or higher than that of vanadium makes it possible to form binary and somewhat more complex alloys on its basis [24][25][26][31][32][33]. According to the data of mechanical tests, alloying significantly increases the resistance to deformation of vanadium (Fig.…”

“…The results of mechanical tests and structural examinations [24,26] are of great importance in determining the regularities of the influence of alloying elements and long-term, high-temperature aging under load and without it on the stability of the structure and the high-temperature strength of vanadium alloys [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Electron spectroscopy and x-ray structural-phase analysis of ternary alloys containing zirconium and carbon revealed the existence of an additional phase consisting of precipitates of ZrC, V2C, and VC with different dispersity and morphology (Fig.…”

“…In this respect, according to the predictions of world-famous scientific-research centers specializing in the field of reactor materials science, the application of refractory metals, in particular, vanadium and low-alloyed vanadium alloys (up to 15 at. %) [9][10][11][12], nickel-based alloys, and special steels [3,9], is gaining in importance. The advisability of using vanadium is due to the optimum complex of physicomechanical properties and its compatibility with nuclear fuel and high corrosion resistance in promising high-temperature, heat-transport media (helium, lithium, and sodium melts).…”