Papers by Keyword: Continuous Heating

Abstract: Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been used to study the phase changes in samples of as-received Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube material by continuous heating and cooling. Two different heating rates (5 and 20°C/min) were used to heat the sample up to 1050°C. After a short time hold at 1050°C, all the samples were continuously cooled to 300°C at a rate of 20°C/min. On continuous heating, the DSC signals obtained showed two endothermic transitions. The low-temperature transition, occurring between about 500 and 650°C, is attributed to a thermal decomposition of metastable niobium-stabilized β-phase. The highertemperature transition, occurring between 600 and 950°C, is due to phase transformations of hcp α-Zr to bcc β-Zr, as previously confirmed in a companion study on the same pressure-tube material that was examined in-situ by neutron diffraction. The neutron diffraction results provided a positive identification of the two phases and also a quantification of the β-phase present in the sample at different heating temperatures, and thus provided a guide to extract the volume fraction of β-phase from the DSC signals obtained in this study. The DSC signals revealed only one exothermic transition which is correlated to the reverse transformation of β-Zr to α-Zr, as previously identified in the companion neutron diffraction study of the same pressure tube material.

Abstract: Grain growth is a thermally activated process in which the average grain size increases as temperature and time increases. The driving force for grain growth results from the decrease in the free energy associated with the reduction in total grain boundary energy. There are several known factors that influence the migration of grain boundaries such as second phase particles precipitated in the matrix and the solute elements segregated at grain boundaries. The austenite grain boundaries are revealed using the thermal etching method. Carbon extraction replicas were prepared to determine the composition and size of precipitates present in the matrix. In this work, the evolution of the average prior austenite grain size (PAGS) of a low carbon steel microalloyed with niobium is studied as a function of temperature and heating rate. Austenite grains show a two-stage growth. It has been found that as heating rate increases, the grain coarsening temperature (TGC) increases and the grain size at that temperature decreases. TGC temperature lies around 40-60°C below the temperature for complete dissolution of carbonitrides (TDISS).