Prebaked zirconium for electron beam melted barrier tube shell material.

摘要

Process for producing purified zirconium by baking a distilled sponge of zirconium for at least one-half hour at 120-400 DEG C and then EB melting the vacuum baked sponge, preferably in a multiple swept beam electron beam furnace. Preferably a rotary feeder type EB furnace is used such that the sponge can be baked and melted without being consolidated into an electrode and preferably the distilled sponge is tested and sponge having more than the desired oxygen level is rejected and only sponge having less oxygen is selected for use as the distilled sponge to be baked and EB melted.