Deformed α-zirconium-tin alloys were studied by means of X-ray diffraction and the results were analysed using the line-broadening method. Stacking fault probabilities were estimated and found to be 2·6, 5·6, 7·6 and 10 x 10-2 in zirconium containing 0, 0·7, 3 and 5wt% tin, respectively. The corresponding fault energies were 240, 116, 85 and 62mJ/m2, respectively. The results were used to show that the unpinning of attractive junctions was a plausible rate-controlling mechanism at high temperatures.

Stacking Fault Energy and its Influence on High-Temperature Plastic Flow in Zr-Sn Alloys. D.H.Sastry, M.J.Luton, J.J.Jonas: Philosophical Magazine, 1974, 30[1], 115-27