Patent ID: 7738620

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a fuel cladding tube for a nuclear reactor, the method comprising: preparing an ingot of zirconium alloy consisting of, in percentages by weight: 0.8%≦Nb≦2.8%; traces≦Sn≦0.65%; 0.015%≦Fe≦0.40%; C≦100 ppm; 600 ppm≦O≦2300 ppm; 5 ppm≦S≦100 ppm; Cr+V≦0.25%; Hf≦75 ppm; and F≦1 ppm; the balance being zirconium and impurities that result from preparation; forging the ingot followed by quenching, drawing, and thermomechanical treatments including cold rolling with intervening intermediate annealing, all of the intermediate annealing operations being performed at a temperature below the α→α+β transus temperature of the alloy, and terminating with recrystallization annealing and obtaining a tube; and performing mechanical polishing of an outside surface of the tube to give it roughness Ra less than or equal to 0.5 μm.