METHOD OF PRODUCTION OF ZIRCONIUM-BASED ALLOYS

FIELD: metallurgy; industrial production of high-quality zirconium-based alloys used in atomic industry. ^ SUBSTANCE: proposed method includes screening the briquettes made from mixture of zirconium-based material and alloying elements; making the billets from briquettes, molding the consumable electrodes from billets, iodide bars and zirconium wire and melting the ingot by repeated vacuum arc remelting; part of billet corresponding to bottom part of ingot of first remelting process and/or gating part of ingot of final remelting process is formed from depleted briquettes into which alloying elements are introduced in the following amount: C=K1xCr, where K1 is coefficient taking into account the tendency of alloying element to liquation K1=0.5-1.0, Cr is rated content of alloying element in alloy; total mass of depleted briquettes M=K1xD, where K2 is coefficient taking into account the mass of molten metal at the initial moment of melt depending on length of ingot K2=0.04-0.12 kg/mm, D is diameter of final melt ingot, mm. ^ EFFECT: improved quality of alloys due to enhanced chemical homogeneity of ingot. ^ 6 cl, 1 tbl, 1 ex