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<p>Industrial pure zirconium (Zr-3) is a preferred material for nuclear chemical engineering equipment due to its exceptional high-temperature corrosion resistance and low neutron absorption cross-section. However, the lack of data and theoretical understanding regarding its low-temperature creep properties poses significant challenges for equipment design and safety assessment. To elucidate the low-temperature creep behavior and underlying mechanisms of Zr-3, creep tensile tests were conducted in an air environment at 133&#xa0;°C and 89&#xa0;MPa. The creep curve results revealed that after creep 1832&#xa0;h, Zr-3 exhibited characteristics of both the initial creep stage and the steady-state creep stage, along with the occurrence of creep saturation. Microstructural characterizations using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) demonstrated that the uniformly distributed equiaxed grains experienced noticeable growth, with the average grain size increasing from 26.55 to 32.82&#xa0;μm. This grain coarsening was primarily attributed to stored energy-driven static recrystallization, where low-angle grain boundaries reorganized into high-angle grain boundaries via dislocation recombination. Furthermore, dislocation configuration analysis confirmed that the low-temperature creep deformation of Zr-3 was exclusively dominated by dislocation slip, with no evidence of twinning, as the applied stress was insufficient to activate twinning mechanisms. These findings provide critical data and theoretical support for the safe application of zirconium in nuclear chemical engineering equipment.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>

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Creep behavior of industrial pure zirconium at low-temperature

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年8月5日

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  • Kai Zhao,
  • Xiwen Hu,
  • Zhongliang Liu,
  • Lei Xu,
  • Guangkai Wang,
  • Jiaojiao Dong,
  • Xiaodong Gao,
  • Jinjuan Lv,
  • Jinping Wu,
  • Qing Yang,
  • Jianping Xu

摘要

Industrial pure zirconium (Zr-3) is a preferred material for nuclear chemical engineering equipment due to its exceptional high-temperature corrosion resistance and low neutron absorption cross-section. However, the lack of data and theoretical understanding regarding its low-temperature creep properties poses significant challenges for equipment design and safety assessment. To elucidate the low-temperature creep behavior and underlying mechanisms of Zr-3, creep tensile tests were conducted in an air environment at 133 °C and 89 MPa. The creep curve results revealed that after creep 1832 h, Zr-3 exhibited characteristics of both the initial creep stage and the steady-state creep stage, along with the occurrence of creep saturation. Microstructural characterizations using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) demonstrated that the uniformly distributed equiaxed grains experienced noticeable growth, with the average grain size increasing from 26.55 to 32.82 μm. This grain coarsening was primarily attributed to stored energy-driven static recrystallization, where low-angle grain boundaries reorganized into high-angle grain boundaries via dislocation recombination. Furthermore, dislocation configuration analysis confirmed that the low-temperature creep deformation of Zr-3 was exclusively dominated by dislocation slip, with no evidence of twinning, as the applied stress was insufficient to activate twinning mechanisms. These findings provide critical data and theoretical support for the safe application of zirconium in nuclear chemical engineering equipment.

Graphical abstract