Development of oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic steels for FBR core application. 1. Improvement of mechanical properties by recrystallization processing

As to an oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steel cladding as the promising candidate for long-life core materials of the fast reactors, previously fabricated claddings had inferior internal creep rupture strength in hoop direction and inferior formability due to less ductility. Those unexpected features of ODS claddings are substantially ascribed to the needle-like grain structure excessively elongated along the forming direction. Controlling the grain morphology by applying the recrystallization method to ODS ferritic steel made possible to improve those inferior features. The ranges of Y2O3 and excessive oxygen contents for possibly cold-rolling and recrystallization were revealed, and the effects of extruded temperature and deformation texture on recrystallization characteristics were evaluated. The recrystallized ODS ferritic steel showed superior internal creep rupture strength and ductility. It was demonstrated from those results that cold-rolling manufacturing of ODS cladding at room temperature are feasible by softening the accumulated deformation structure using the recrystallization treatment. (author)