Abstract
X-ray diffraction diagrams of neutron irradiated Zircaloy-4 were obtained at the Brazilian Synchrotron Laboratory (LNLS) with the aim to obtain bulk information about the amorphization process in which the Zircaloy-4 second phase particles (SPPs) undergoes due to neutron irradiation. Owing to the low concentration of the SPPs in the alloy (∼0.4 V%), no data regarding to the bulk were obtained until now. The synchrotron experiences allowed to detect five of the more intense lines of the phase C14 (SPPs structure) in unirradited Zircaloy-4: <110>θ, <103>θ, <112>θ, <201>θ and <004>θ in the 34°<2θ<45° Bragg angle range and others of minor intensity. The diagrams of the samples irradiated at moderate doses (1020 n/cm2) show these lines even in the as received samples. In contrast, none of these lines are observed for high fluency samples (∼1022 neutrons/cm2), confirming in the bulk what is known by TEM in thin films. In addition, in similar high fluency samples annealed 24 h or 72 h at 600 °C the intensity rises just at the 2θ range where the C14 lines were observed, showing a wide peak. That peak is interpreted as a result of the superposition of unresolved diffraction lines corresponding to the Zircaloy SPPs which are in a reconstitution process of crystallization.
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