Effect of Processing Routes on Orientation-Dependent Tensile Flow Behavior of Zircaloy-4 at Elevated Temperatures

The present work describes the correlation between orientation-dependent tensile flow behavior and texture of Zircaloy-4 sheet at elevated temperatures. The sheets are manufactured from three different routes, namely slab route, tube route, and pilgering. The material is tested at elevated temperatures raising from 75 to 225 °C with an increment of 75 °C. The XRD results show that the texture intensity is more in LOS than that of the other two. In all the three alloys, irrespective of temperature, the yield strength is maximum in transverse direction and minimum in longitudinal direction. The yield strength dependent in-plane anisotropy (A_IP) and percent of elongation-dependent anisotropy (δ) values show presence of moderate textures. The true stress and true plastic strain values are best fitted with the Holloman equation, and the coefficient of determination (R²) ranges between 0.99039 and 0.99959. The differential curves are plotted by numerically differentiating true stress with respect to true plastic strain for quantitative description of work-hardening rate of materials. The differential curves of all the three alloys exhibit the three typical work-hardening regions (i.e., elasto-plastic transition, easy glide stage, dynamic recovery).