High Performance ZrNbAl Alloy with Low Thermal Expansion Coefficient**Supported by the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Hebei Province under Grant No B2017003008, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 51531005, 51671166, 51571174 and 51604241, and the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province under Grant No E2016203395.

Abstract

Thermal expansion is a common phenomenon in both metals and alloys, which is important for metallic material applications in modern industry, especially in nuclear and aerospace industries. A lower thermal expansion coefficient may cause lower thermal stress and higher accuracy. A new Zr-based alloy is developed and presented. The XRD diffraction results demonstrate that only a close-packed hexagonal phase (α or α′ phase) exists in the microstructure. The thermal expansion and mechanical properties are studied. According to the experimental results, the new Zr-based alloy presents a low thermal expansion coefficient and good mechanical properties. Also, its thermal expansion coefficient is stable through solution treatment.