Effect of Hydride Orientation on Tensile and Bursting Properties of Zr-4 Cladding Tubes at Room Temperature

The effect of hydride orientation on mechanical properties of Zr-4 tubes with hydrogen contents with 140±20 μg/g and 260±20 μg/g was investigated by tensile and bursting tests at room temperature. The results showed that with the two studied hydrogen contents, the hydride orientation had little influence on tensile properties and bursting strengths at room temperature. The circumferential ductility was extremely sensitive to the hydride orientation. The bursting elongation at room temperature was degraded remarkably with the increasing of the hydride orientation factor. The bursting elongation at room temperature for tubes with 260±20μg/g hydrogen decreased faster compared with that for 140±20 μg/g.