Effect of microstructure and addition of alloying elements on hydriding kinetics of Zr–Nb-based alloys

•Correlation between microstructure and corrosion resistance was discussed.•Hydrogen absorption was significantly affected by thermomechanical process.•The hydrogen absorption in cold rolled and annealed Zr–Nb-based alloys was measured.

The addition of Al, Cu and Mn in Zr–Nb-based alloys was evaluated through corrosion and hydrogen absorption tests in cold rolled and annealed conditions. For the studied alloys, the heat treatment resulted in an α-Zr matrix with β-Nb precipitates and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the formation of hydrides after hydrogenation in all conditions evaluated. It was observed that the alloy with Al addition absorbed the largest amount of hydrogen and the alloy containing Cu took more time to begin the absorption. The alloy with Mn absorbed little hydrogen but the onset of absorption occurred in a short time. The results indicate that the alloy with Cu addition is the most promising and the alloy with Al addition is inadequate for nuclear application.