Microstructural Studies of Heat Treated Zr-2.5Nb Alloy for Pressure Tube Applications

Microstructural characterization of laser beam and gas tungsten arc welded zirconium-2.5Nb

“…The (βααʹ) transformation start temperature decreased to 650°C at 600°C/s cooling rate. At higher cooling rates, the transformation start and transformation end temperatures generally decreased, consistent with a previously published continuous cooling transformation diagram (Saibaba, 2012). The current study showed that, at a cooling rate of below 50 C/s, the transformation product was a mixture of basketweave, parallel plate and beta niobium ( Figure 1 and Figure 2).…”