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ON THE FRACTURE OF COLD‐WORKED Zr–2.5Nb PRESSURE TUBES FABRICATED FROM 100% RECYCLED MATERIAL
Author(s) -
Davies P. H.,
Aitchison I.,
Himbeault D. D.,
Järvine A. K.,
Watters J. F.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
fatigue and fracture of engineering materials and structures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1460-2695
pISSN - 8756-758X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-2695.1995.tb00904.x
Subject(s) - materials science , fracture toughness , void (composites) , toughness , composite material , metallurgy , zirconium , nucleation , chemistry , organic chemistry
A study was completed on irradiated and unirradiated (offcut) material from Pickering Nuclear Generating Station (NGS) A Unit 3 pressure tubes which were fabricated from ingots of 100% recycled material (quadruple‐vacuum‐arc‐melted). The toughness of the material is shown to be generally higher than that of previous material fabricated from < 100% recycled material (double‐vacuum‐arc‐melted). Fractographic and microstructural studies demonstrate that variations in toughness of the low chlorine (< 1 ppm) material are predominantly due to preferential void nucleation at particles, in particular aligned zirconium phosphides. In the absence of such particles, very high toughness levels can be maintained after irradiation.