Residual grain-interaction stresses in zirconium alloys

Residual grain-interaction stresses develop during the thermomechanical treatment of Zr alloys due to the anisotropy of the mechanical and thermal properties of the hep lattice. The origin and characteristics of this type of residual stress are described in conjunction with underlying physical principles employed to measure grain-interaction strains by means of neutron diffraction. The effect of thermal treatments, deformation, and irradiation on the evolution of residual grain-interaction strains are reviewed, and the most up-to-date experimental results are presented. The effects of grain-interaction stresses on the plasticity and in-reactor deformation of ZIRCALOY-2 will be discussed. This paper is based on a presentation made in the symposium “Irradiation-Enhanced Materials Science and Engineering” presented as part of the ASM INTERNATIONAL 75th Anniversary celebration at the 1988 World Materials Congress in Chicago, IL, September 25–29, 1988, under the auspices of the Nuclear Materials Committee of TMS-AIME and ASM-MSD.