Experimental studies of mechanical properties of solid zirconium hydrides

Abstract

Zirconium alloy Zr–2.5Nb has been hydrided to ZrHx (x=1.15–2.0), and studied using microhardness and unconfined and confined compression techniques. At room temperature, results on Young’s modulus and yield strength of solid hydrides show that these mechanical properties remain about the same as the original zirconium alloy for hydrogen compositions up to about ZrH1.5. The levels of these properties start to drop when δ hydride becomes the major phase and reaches a minimum for the ε hydride phase. Between room temperature and 300°C, Young’s modulus of solid hydrides decreases with temperature at about the same rate as it does for the original zirconium alloy.