Residual stresses in uranium and uranium alloys

Residual stresses are generated in uranium alloys primarily by metal working operations and heat treatments. These stresses can be large enough to seriously degrade material manufacturability and integrity. They have been observed to cause centerline bursting in bars, stress corrosion cracking in components of various geometries subjected to a variety of environments, and distortion during machining. The magnitudes and consequences of these stresses can be minimized by mechanical or thermal stress relieving. Residual stresses in uranium alloy components have been measured mostly by destructive relaxation methods, but recently a non-destructive neutron diffraction method has been developed. (author)