Effect of Annealing Temperatures on Corrosion Resistance of a Zr-0.85Sn-0.16Nb-0.38Fe-0.18Cr Alloy

To investigate the effect of annealing temperatures on the corrosion resistance of a Zr-0.85Sn-0.16Nb-0.38Fe-0.18Cr alloy,different annealing temperatures（740-820℃） before and after the final cold rolling were employed to prepare the specimens for corrosion tests.The specimens were corroded in deionized water at 360℃/18.6 MPa,in super heated steam at 400℃/10.3 MPa and at 500℃/10.3 MPa,respectively by autoclave test.The microstructure including the size and composition of second phase particles（SPPs） was examined by TEM and EDS.Results show that the SPPs in the Zr-0.85Sn-0.16Nb-0.38Fe-0.18Cr alloy are Zr（Fe,Cr,Nb）2 with a hcp structure;With the increasing of annealing temperatures,the size of the SPPs increases and the Nb content in the SPPs decreases;Under the three test conditions,the specimens annealed at different temperatures between 740℃ and 800℃ are all with corrosion resistance behavior as good as the specimen prepared by conventional procedures,and their corrosion resistance is superior to Zircaloy-4.This indicates that the corrosion resistance of this alloy is insensitive to the annealing temperatures.