Production and preliminary characterization of ferritic–martensitic steel T91 cladding tubes for LBE or Pb cooled nuclear systems

Thin wall tubes with suitable dimensions for possible future use as nuclear fuel cladding based on ferritic–martensitic steel T91 have been produced. Several rolling routes for thin wall tube rolling have been successfully explored to produce T91 tubes of 8.5 mm OD and 0.5 mm wall thickness as well as 6.5 mm OD and 0.5 mm wall thickness. The results show that the cold rolled Т91 steel thin walled tubes remain ductile and the material easily carries fractional strains. Finally the microstructure of the resulting tubes was examined and preliminary burst and tensile tests were performed showing properties comparable to those of T91 plate material.