Equilibrium Structures In The High Uranium Iron Alloy System Topical Report PDF Download

The high-temperature body-centered cubic [gamma] phase in uranium alloys with approximately 10 at % titanium, niobium, zirconium, or molybdenum can be rendered metastable under critical cooling conditions; it may transform thence by a shear mechanism to form a characteristic banded structure or by a nucleation and growth process to equiaxed grains. These decomposition structures with differing metallographic appearances give similar x-ray patterns. The structures are designated ''distorted [alpha] '' since the patterns correspond to a contraction in the b-direction of the normal orthorhombic [alpha] cell. The formation of these metastable structures is apparently dependent upon composition, cooling rate, and the effect of the solute element on the incubation period and decomposition rate of the metastable [gamma] phase. (auth).