Zirconium tube targets

Zirconium tube targets have good fusion welding properties. Zirconium is a rare metal with amazing corrosion resistance, extremely high melting point, ultra-hardness and strength, and is widely used in aerospace applications. The basic properties of zirconium are: easy to be contaminated by oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc., easy to stick to the mold, and homogeneous heterocrystalline transformation. The requirements for zirconium components in reactors are high dimensional accuracy, strict microstructure requirements and stable performance. The main processes for processing the widely used seamless zirconium tubes are: preparation of self-consuming electrodes, melting and casting, forging, hot extrusion (billets), cold working, and finishing.
Zirconium has good corrosion resistance, moderate mechanical properties, low atomic thermal neutron absorption cross section (0.18 target en for zirconium) in high temperature and high pressure water and steam at 300-400°C. It has good compatibility with fuel, so it can be used as core structural material for water-cooled reactors (fuel cladding, pressure tubes, stents and orifice tubes), which is the main use of zirconium alloy. Zirconium has excellent corrosion resistance to many acids (such as hydrochloric, nitric, sulfuric and acetic acids), bases and salts, so zirconium alloys are also used to make corrosion resistant parts and pharmaceutical devices.