Stress-relaxation in bending, at 673 K, of stress-relieved and cold-worked Zircaloy-4

Abstract

Stress-relaxation measurements in bending, performed in Zry-4 at 673 K up to times of the order of 1000 h, in stress-relieved and cold-worked specimens, are reported. The stress-relieving treatments were made at three different temperatures: 773, 793 and 813 K, during 1 and 2 h. It is shown that the results can be analyzed in terms of a plastic equation of state suggesting a contribution of grain boundary sliding to the plastic deformation.