Resistance, electron- and laser-beam welding of zirconium alloys for nuclear applications: A review

• Main Author: Mikhail Slobodyan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-04-01
• Series: Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• Subjects: Nuclear industry; Electron beam welding; Laser beam welding; Resistance welding; Zirconium alloys; Microstructure
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1738573320308986

The review summarizes the published data on the widely applied electron-beam, laser-beam, as well as resistance upset, projection, and spot welding of zirconium alloys for nuclear applications. It provides the results of their analysis to identify common patterns in this area. Great attention has been paid to the quality requirements, the edge preparation, up-to-date equipment, process parameters, as well as post-weld treatment and processing. Also, quality control and weld repair methods have been mentioned. Finally, conclusions have been drawn about a significant gap between the capabilities of advanced welding equipment to control the microstructure and, accordingly, the properties of welded joints of the zirconium alloys and existing algorithms that enable to realize them in the nuclear industry. Considering the ever-increasing demands on the high-burnup accident tolerant nuclear fuel assemblies, great efforts should be focused on the improving the welding procedures by implementing predefined heat input cycles. However, a lot of research is required, since the number of possible combinations of the zirconium alloys, designs and dimensions of the joints dramatically exceeds the quantity of published results on the effect of the welding parameters on the properties of the welds.