Fracture resistance of Zr-Nb alloys under low-cycle fatigue tests

Comparative low-cycle fatigue tests of small-scale specimens cut from the cladding tubes of E110, E125, E110opt zirconium alloys at temperatures of 25 and 350 °C using a dynamic mechanical analyzer have been carried out. It is shown that the limited cycles fatigue stress for all alloys is 50% less at temperature of 350 °C comparing to 25 °C. Besides it has been revealed that the limited cycles fatigue stress increases with increasing the strength of zirconium alloy.