Development of a manufacturing process for Zr-based spacer grid materials

A novel manufacturing process for zirconium-based alloy strips has been developed. This process consists of a prior heat-treatment under a monotectoid temperature before subsequent deformation processes. During the prior heat-treatment process at 580 °C for 10 h, β-Nb phase particles were precipitated. The second phase particles stabilized the alloy from corrosion even the subsequent annealings at high temperatures. This result enhances the manufacturability of zirconium-based alloys, especially for high strength alloys with high Nb contents. The process developed can also be applied to commercial zirconium-based spacer grid materials, which would give rise to a higher producibility of such materials.