A study on phase transformations in metastable beta zirconium alloys based on well known behaviour of metastable beta titanium alloys
Abstrakt
While titanium and its alloys have been widely studied, phase transformations in zirconium alloys are rather unexplored. Since titanium and zirconium are in the same group of periodic table of elements, similar behaviour is expected.
Therefore, knowledge of phase transformations in titanium alloys can be utilized in the development of the new zirconium alloys and of their heat treatment in order to achieve enhanced mechanical properties compared to commercial Zr-alloys. In this study, Zr-Nb system with sufficient amount of beta stabilizing niobium to create a metastable beta alloy, was studied and compared to the Ti-Mo system.
Phase transformations in zirconium alloys have been studied in-situ by electrical resistance and the results of these measurements were compared with ex-situ SEM and TEM observations and microhardness measurements. Similar behaviour was observed for both systems.