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The hot deformation behavior and microstructure of Fe-12.5Cr–4Al–2Mo-0.03Nb-0.08Y alloy were studied under conditions of 800 °C–1200 °C/0.01 s−1∼10 s−1 using a combination of hot compression experiments, EBSD and TEM characterization. The results indicate that the deformation temperature and strain rate have a significant impact on the flow stress and microstructure of the alloy, especially the deformation temperature. The constitutive equation constructed in this paper can reflect the hot deformation process and accurately calculate flow stress value of the FeCrAl alloy in corresponding states. The FeCrAl alloy undergoes DRV and DRX during hot deformation. DDRX grains distributed along the original grain boundaries mainly formed at low deformation temperatures and high strain rates, while CDRX grains mainly formed at high deformation temperatures and low strain rates and characterized by the internal distribution of the original grains. Moreover, the orientation of DDRX grains is mostly different from that of adjacent original grains, while the orientation of CDRX grains is relatively close to that of the original grains.

The microstructure of FeCrAl cladding tubes depends on the fabricating process history. In this study, the microstructural characteristics of wrought FeCrAl alloys during industrial pilger processing into thin-walled tubes were investigated. The hot extruded tube showed ∼100 μm equiaxed grains with weak α∗-fiber in {h11} texture, while pilger rolling process change the microstructure to fragmented and elongated grains along the rolling direction. The pilgered textures could be predicted with the VPSC model. The inter-pass annealing at 800–850 °C for 1 h results in recovery and recrystallization of the ferric matrix and restoration of ductility. The final finished tube shows fine recrystallized grains (∼11 μm) with dominant γ-fiber in three dimensions. Pilger rolling enhanced α-fiber while annealing reduced α-fiber and enhanced γ-fiber. Microstructural evolution in the Laves precipitates followed the sequence of faceted needle-like → spherical → faceted ellipsoidal. Thermomechanical processing resulted in cladding tubes with an area fraction of ∼5% and a number density of 5 × 10−11 m−2 in Laves precipitates, which is half that of the first-pilgered tube. Laves precipitates pin the grain boundaries to control the microstructure and prevent grain coarsening.

This study investigated the effects of element composition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of three FeCrAl alloys (denoted as Q1, Q2, Q3). The addition of reactive elements (REs) 2 wt% Mo resulted in a 60 % refinement of grain size and an increase in kernel angle misorientation (KAM). Alloy texture was notably influenced by elemental composition, and γ texture (111)[01¯1] exhibited higher energy than (111)[12¯1]. The {110} 〈111〉 slip system exhibited greater resistance to deformation and lower susceptibility to activation than {123} 〈111〉. The yield load (Py-CEN), maximum load (Fm), and fracture energy (Esp) of the alloys at 298 K, 573 K, 723 K, 873 K, and 1023 K were evaluated through small punch test (SPT). The Fm of the three alloys were two-staged with notable temperature dependence. In this context, Q1 exhibited the lowest absolute slope of 2.97 (Q2: 3.44, Q3: 3.46) in the second stage. Furthermore, the Esp value of Q3 was the lowest at room temperature (RT, 298 K) and the highest at high temperatures (873 K and 1023 K) among the three alloys. The obtained results of SPT at different temperatures suggested a strong temperature dependence in the mechanical properties.

FeCrAl/N18 clad plates were fabricated by solid-state diffusion. The clad plates were hot rolled, and then annealed under vacuum at 800 °C for 480 h. The microstructures and shear tensile strengths of the obtained FeCrAl/N18 clad plates were subsequently investigated. It was found that after annealing, the three samples at the interface were composed of Zr(Cr, Fe)2, Zr3Al, and Zr2Fe phases, as identified by electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPMA). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations showed that FCC-ZrFe2, Laves phase-ZrFe2, FCC-Fe2(Zr, Nb), and amorphous phases were formed at the diffusion interface. In addition, the diffusion layers thickness of FeCrAl/N18 clad plates with 20, 30 and 50% rolling reduction was 6.5 ± 0.5, 7.0 ± 0.5, and 11.0 ± 0.5 μm, respectively, and the corresponding shear strength was 215, 214, and 317 MPa. Furthermore, the shear strength of the sample with a 50% rolling reduction annealed at 800 °C for a shorter time of 240 h was 310 MPa. It was found that longer annealing times results in the shear strengths initially increasing significantly, prior to reaching to a stable value. The results will be expected to provide possible valuable guidance for the preparation of multilayer fuel cladding materials for nuclear reactor.

Cr-coated Zr alloys are widely considered the most promising accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding materials for engineering applications in the near term. In this work, Cr coatings were prepared on the surfaces of 1400 mm long N36 cladding tubes using an industrial multiple arc source system. Orthogonal analyses were conducted to demonstrate the significance level of various process parameters influencing the characteristics of coatings (surface roughness, defects, crystal orientation, grain structure, etc.). The results show that the arc current mainly affects the coating deposition rate and the droplet particles on the surface or inside the coatings; however, the crystal preferred orientation and grain structure are more significantly influenced by the gas pressure and negative bias voltage, respectively. Then, the underlying mechanisms are carefully discussed. At last, a set of systemic methods to control the quality and microstructures of Cr coatings are summarized.

Introducing the oxidation-resistant coating on Zr alloy is considered to be one of the potential solutions for accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) materials. In this study, pure Cr coatings were prepared on a Zircaloy-4 (Zry-4) alloy surface by multi-arc ion plating under different process parameters. The ability of Cr coating on Zry-4 alloy cladding to improve the oxidation resistance to prevent a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) was studied. The microstructure of Cr coating was analyzed using the EBSD technique, and the high-temperature steam oxidation was tested at 800, 1000 and 1200 °C. Compared with the original Zry-4 alloy, the samples with Cr coatings exhibited much better oxidation resistance under different high-temperature steam oxidation conditions. However, the Cr coating exhibited columnar grain, strong preferred orientation and (001) fiber texture. The columnar grain boundaries provided paths for the diffusion of oxygen atoms to the Zry-4 alloy matrix at high temperatures. The results showed that the oxidation film of Cr coating with relatively random grain orientation was compact and uniform and exhibited the best oxidation resistance at high temperatures.

In recent years, the development of nuclear grade FeCrAl-based alloys with enhanced accident tolerance has been carried out for light water reactor (LWR) fuel cladding to serve as a substitute for zirconium-based alloys. To achieve excellent microstructure stability and mechanical properties, the control of precipitation particles is critical for application of FeCrAl-based alloys. In this paper, the effect of thermomechanical processing on the microstructure and precipitation behavior of hot-rolled FeCrAl alloy plates was examined. After hot rolling, the FeCrAl alloy plates had typical deformation textures. The rolling direction (RD) orientation gradually rotated from to along with increasing reduction. Shear bands and cell structures were formed in the matrix, and the former acted as preferable nucleation sites for crystallization. Improved deformation helped to produce strain-induced precipitation. The plate with 83% reduction had the most homogeneous and finest precipitation particles. Identification results by TEM indicated that the Laves precipitation was of the Fe2Nb-type crystal structure type, with impurities including Mo, Cr, and Si. The plate with uniform Laves particles displayed favorable heat stability after a long period of aging at 800 °C. The microstructure evolution of the aged sample was also observed. The deformation microstructure and the strain-induced precipitation mechanism of FeCrAl alloys are discussed.