Stress Reorientation of Hydrides in Recrystallized Zircaloy-2 Sheet

A series of measurements was performed to examine the effects of texture, hydrogen concentration, thermal cycling and morphology of hydrides on stress reorientation of hydrides using unirradiated recrystallized Zircaloy-2 sheet materials. It was found that the threshold stress for reorientation of hydrides is approximately 80 MPa, and the threshold stress is not affected by hydrogen concentration, thermal cycling or hydride morphology before the hydride reorientation test. Over the threshold stress, texture, thermal cycling and morphology of hydrides affect the stress reorientation. The modified Ells' equation was proposed for expressing the effect of the texture of Zircaloy-2.