Thermal Expansion Studies on Zircaloy-2

We report thermal expansion measurements on useful reactor material, Zircaloy-2. Several specimens of Zircaloy-2 having the size of 10x10mm and thickness 1mm were vacuum sealed and given a common β-quenching treatment by heating to 1223 K and holding for 2 h, followed by water quenching. These specimens were then thermally aged for 1 h in the temperature range 473 to 973 K and air-cooled. For all samples, the thermal expansion was carried out and the results are correlated with ultrasonic measurements, metallographic and photoacoustic studies.