Precipitate Growth in Zircaloy-4

Calculations have been made using the current versions of TCS Zr-based Alloys Database (TCZR) and TCS Zr-alloys Mobility Database (MOBZR) and the Add-On Precipitation Module (TC-PRISMA) to compare with the precipitation and growth of the C14 phase Zr(Fe, Cr)2 in Zircaloy-4 alloy as studied by [1990Gro].

When setting up the calculation, a General precipitate growth model was selected since Fe and Zr have remarkable diffusivity differences. A mobility enhancement prefactor (0.03) is also used.

See the Growth theory section in the Precipitation Module User Guide for more information about the models. Also see the Precipitation Calculator: Matrix Phase Settings to learn where these settings are defined.

The resulting plot compares the mean radius of the spherical C14 precipitate phase calculated from the Precipitation Module (TC-PRISMA) with the data from [1990Gro].

Read more about the Precipitation Module (TC-PRISMA) on our website. If you are in Thermo‑Calc, press F1 to search the help to learn about the available settings included with the Add-on Module.

Mean radius of C14 for different heat treatments.

Figure 1: Mean radius of C14 for different heat treatments.

Reference

[1990Gro] J. P. Gros, J. F. Wadier, Precipitate growth kinetics in Zircaloy-4. J. Nucl. Mater. 172, 85–96 (1990).