The texture dependence of KIH in the radial direction in Zr-2.5%Nb pressure tube materials

The texture dependency of KIH in the radial direction was investigated in Zr-2.5%Nb pressure tube materials. The flat cantilever beam specimens were machined at various angles from the longitudinal direction using flattened pressure tube materials, and therefore, the textures of the cracking planes in the cantilever specimens varied. The KIH's measured at 250 .deg. C decrease linearly with an increase in the basal pole components. The KIH in the transverse direction specimen having the highest basal pole component showed the lowest values,∼9 MP√m. The texture dependency of KIH can be explained by the rule of mixture using the basal pole component (F) and a fraction of the ductile matrix (1-F)