Dimensionally stable and corrosion-resistant fuel channels and related method of manufacture

摘要

A method of manufacturing fuel channels made of zirconium-based alloy by combining heat treatment, warm forming and thermal sizing. Fuel channel strip material is heated to a temperature which initiates the transformation from a hexagonal close-packed to a body-centered cubic crystallographic phase and then quenched at a rate which initiates transformation to a hexagonal close-packed crystallographic phase having a texture factor fL=0.28-0.38. The heat-treated strips are formed into fuel channel components by bending at an elevated temperature sufficient to increase the ductility of the strip material. After the fuel channel components are welded together, the fuel channel is annealed by thermal sizing.