HOT WATER CORROSION RESISTANCE OF HANFORD ZIRCONIUM AND ZIRCALOY 2 TUBING

Technical Report · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1955

OSTI ID:4298396

Carver, M D; Hayes, E T

Samples of two types of Hanford reactor tubing, zirconium and Zircaloy- 2, in each of four conditions, as rolled, stress relieved in air at 800 deg F, stress relieved in argon at 800 deg F, and vacuum annealed at 1400 deg F, were subjected to hot water corrosion tests to determine the relative effect on the corrosion resistance of each of the three heat treatments following fabrication. Also, it was undertaken to determine what effect an etching treatment following fabrication would have on the corrosion resistance. lt was found that for both types of tubing a longer life in hot water was obthined from vacuum annealing at 1400 deg F than from any of the other conditions in which the specimens were tested. Of the other three conditions, none was shown to be definitely superior to the other two. The results show that, for both types of tubing, etching can be expected to improve the corrosion resistance of the as-rolled tubing and of the as-rolled tubing which has been subjected; to a stress relief in argon. The results show also that, for both types, etching can be expected to lower the corrosion resisthnce of the as-rolled tubing which has been subjected to a stress relief in air. Furthermore, the results show that, for the as-rolled tubing which was subjected to vacuum annealing at 1400 deg F, etching either did not affect or affected only slightly the corrosion resistance of Zircaloy 2 tubing, but improved the corrosion resistance of the zirconium tubing. (auth)

• Research Organization: Bureau of Mines. Northwest Electrodevelopment Experiment Station , Albany, Oreg.
• NSA Number: NSA-12-016360
• OSTI ID: 4298396
• Report Number(s): USBM-U-53
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

AIR
ANNEALING
ARGON
CORROSION
FABRICATION
HEAT TREATMENTS
HIGH TEMPERATURE
MATERIALS TESTING
METALLOGRAPHY
MINERALOGY, METALLURGY, AND CERAMICS
ROLLING
STABILITY
STRESSES
TUBES
VACUUM
WATER
ZIRCALOY
ZIRCONIUM