Zirconium mechanical properties

Because the element not only has a good absorption cross section for thermal neutrons (almost 600 times that of zirconium), but also excellent mechanical properties and is extremely corrosion-resistant, hafnium is used for reactor control rods. Such rods are used in nuclear submarines. 

Zirconium chloride and bromide have closely related but dissimilar stmctures. Both contain two metal layers enclosed between two nonmetal layers which both have hexagonal stmcture. In ZrCl, the four-layer sandwich repeats in layers stacked up according to /abca/bcab/cabc/, whereas the ZrBr stacking order is /abca/cabc/bcab/ (188). Both are metallic conductors, but the difference in packing results in different mechanical properties the bromide is much more brittle. 

Copper. The physical properties of pure copper are given in Table 11. The mechanical properties of pure copper are essentially the same as those for ClOl and CllO. The coppers represent a series of alloys ranging from the commercially pure copper, ClOl, to the dispersion hardened alloy C157. The difference within this series is the specification of small additions of phosphoms, arsenic, cadmium, tellurium, sulfur, zirconium, as well as oxygen. To be classified as one of the coppers, the alloy must contain at least 99.3% copper. 

Titanium, tantalum and zirconium are used for construction in process plants. The principal physical and mechanical properties of these three metals are given in the Table 3.34. 

Niobium-Zirconium Nb-0-75Zr has excellent mechanical properties and similar corrosion resistance to pure niobium higher zirconium concentrations reduce the corrosion resistance. 

Table 5.18 Mechanical properties of chemical grades of zirconium...

Table 5.20 Minimum mechanical properties of nuclear grade zirconium alloys...

Baddeleyite has a monocHnic structure with space group Plljc. The Zr + ion has seven-fold coordination, while the idealized ZrOz polyhedron is close to tetrahedral orientation, where one angle in the structure is different significantly from the tetrahedral value. Natural baddeleyite is a raw material for zirconium. In industry ZrOz, named usually zirconia, is important in areas such as surface chemistry, where its activity as a red ox material and its acid-based functions are important. As a ceramic material, zirconia can resist very high temperatures and its stabihzed form, yttrium-stabihzed zirconiiun, shows remarkable mechanical properties. 

Zirconium and hafnium are two refractory elements which are closely, related to titanium (see Encycl Vol 9, T227-R) but which in addition to having desirable corrosion resistance and mechanical properties, have many significant ordnance applications. Hf free Zr moreover is possessed of a low neutron capture crossection, and is therefore of value as a reactor material. In as much as Hf is chemically similar to Zr and as in nature it is always found in association with Zr, it will be discussed as part of the Zr technology, except where its special properties... 

A problem of obtaining zirconium with lowest possible contents of hafnium comes from construction requirements when using zirconium and its alloys in building nuclear reactors. The construction material must have good mechanical properties and must be resistant to corrosion in contact with heat carriers. Since reactor power is proportional to the quantity of neutrons, their absorption into construction materials should be as small as possible. Zirconium and its alloys are unique materials that satisfy these requirements. However, hafnium has approximately the same chemical characteristics as zirconium but it absorbs neutrons strongly. 

The hexagonal close-packed (hep) metals exhibit mechanical properties intermediate between those of the fee and bcc metals. For example, zinc suffers a ductile-to-brittle transition, whereas zirconium and pure titanium do not. The latter and its alloys have an hep structure, remain reasonably ductile at low temperatures, and have been used for many applications where weight reduction and reduced heat leakage through the material have been important. However, small impurities of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon can have a detrimental effect on the low-temperature ductility properties of titanium and its alloys. 

Because hafnium has a high absorption cross-section for thermal neutrons (almost 600 times that of zirconium), has excellent mechanical properties, and is extremely corrosion resistant, it is used to make the control rods of nuclear reactors. It is also applied in vacuum lines as a getter —a material that combines with and removes trace gases from vacuum tubes. Hafnium has been used as an alloying agent for iron, titanium, niobium, and other metals. Finely divided hafnium is pyrophoric and can ignite spontaneously in air. 

Wrought materials are produced by extrusion, rolling and press forging in the temperature range of 300-500°C. Wrought alloys are of two types, namely those containing zirconium and those devoid of zirconium. The typical composition and mechanical properties are noted in Table 4.68. 

The low cross-section for absorption of neutrons and high-temperature (330-350°C) aqueous corrosion resistance as well as its good mechanical properties promote the use of zirconium alloys in the nuclear reactors. In the development of zirconium alloys care must be taken that the added minor elements do not posses high cross-sections for the absorption of neutrons and contribute to greater corrosion resistance and improved mechanical properties. The good corrosion resistance of the alloys in acids and bases favors the use of zirconium alloys in chemical plants. 

FIGURE 12.11 Improvements of the mechanical properties of three-dimensional reinforced CMCs by hybrid infiltration routes (a) R.T. flexural stress-strain plots for a three-dimensional carbon fiber reinforced composite before and after cycles of infiltration (comparison between eight cycles with zirconium propoxide and fonr cycles pins a last infiltration with aluminum-silicon ester (b) plot of the mechanical strength as a fnnction of the final open porosity for composites and matrix of equivalent porosity, before and after infiltration (Reprinted from Colomban, R and Wey, M., Sol-gel control of the matrix net-shape sintering in 3D reinforced ceramic matrix composites, J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., 17, 1475, 1997. With permission from Elsevier) (c) R.T. tensile behavior (d) comparison of the R.T. mechanical strength after thermal treatments at various temperatures. (Reprinted from Colomban, R, Tailoring of the nano/microstructure of heterogeneous ceramics by sol-gel routes, Ceram. Trans., 95, 243, 1998. With permission from The American Ceramic Society.)... 

An epoxy infiltration process has been used to fabricate zirconium phosphate with much improved physical and mechanical properties for robust applications in various electrochemical devices. Results show that phase composition, microstructure and properties vary gradually along the depth profile, confirming the functionally-graded character of these materials. 

It was noted above, that the as-cast eutectic alloys of binary Ti-Si system have no appreciable plasticity at room temperature. Alloying with aluminum, zirconium and use of various modifiers has also not allowed appreciable RT plasticity to be obtained. Data on temperature dependence of mechanical properties of deformed alloys of system Ti-3A1 6Zr-(2-6) Si show that, in contrast to as-cast alloys, deformed state with about 2 % Si demonstrate high plasticity ( 4%) reducing to 1.8 % in alloy with 6-wt.% Si. At the same time high-temperature strength of these alloys are practically the same, at 540-560 MPa level (600 °C). In such a way there is no reason to increase silicon content higher 2-wt.% in deformed state. 

Finely divided zirconium, such as the zirconium sponge produced in the Kroll process (Sec. 8.3), reacts sufficiently rapidly with water at ordinary temperatures to impair its mechanical properties. Thus it is not feasible to use water leaching to separate zirconium sponge from the magnesium chloride by-product of the Kroll process. 

Zr-2.5 Nb [zirconium alloyed with 2.5 w/o (weight percent) niobium] has better mechanical properties than zircaloy, but is conoded more rapidly by water containing oxygen, such as is found in boiling-water reactors. It was the material prefened in 1971 [El] for pressure tubes in Canadian pressurized-water reactors. 

As a metal, zirconium is used in bone and muscle implant materials. The combination of mechanical properties and excellent biocompatibility makes tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (TZP) ceramics one of the best biomaterials for prosthetic joints. (Covacci et al. 1999). 

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