Abstract
Abstract Liquid metal embrittlement (LME) of zirconium alloys in mercury is entirely transgranular. Grains not oriented forpseudo-cleavage on the basal plane fail by slip on the prism planes to form the characteristic ‘fluting’. Because of this, fracture in Hg of Zr-2.5 Nb small compact tension specimens (cut from five different CANDU pressure tubes) showed large differences in the macroscopic fracture topography that could be related to differences in the local continuity of the basal planes in the structure, even though the average textures were very similar. These differences could be related to differences in the fracture toughness of the tubes. Although LME in zirconium alloys has been thought to be generally transgranular because of previous experience in Hg, Cs/Cd mixtures, a Hg/In/TI eutectic, and Li, tests in Ga showed no transgranular cracking, but small amounts of intergranular cracking were observed that appeared to be limited by poor wetting of Zr by Ga.
Published Version
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