National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI”, Moscow, Russia.

M. G. Isaenkova^*, Professor, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, e-mail: MGIsaenkova@mephi.ru
O. A. Krymskaya, Associate Professor, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, e-mail: OAKrymskaya@mephi.ru
V. A. Rogovskiy, Engineer, e-mail: victor_rsn@bk.ru
I. V. Kozlov, Associate Professor, Candidate of Technical Sciences, e-mail: ilya_mephist@mail.ru
V. A. Fesenko, Lead Engineer, e-mail: fesenko.vlad@mail.ru

^*Correspondence author.

This paper presents the results of using synchrotron radiation to study the circumferential and layer-by-layer inhomogeneity of zirconium alloy tubes. Reducing the size of the initial synchrotron beam to 200×200 μm allows us to analyze the layer-by-layer inhomogeneity of tubes with a wall thickness of 600 μm and above. Based on the results of the analysis of the circumferential inhomogeneity of the cladding tubes and guide channels for the integral texture f-parameters, the error value was 0.04, which is twice as high as the error when using the standard X-ray method. The maximum error in integral texture f-parameters is achieved for recrystallized samples, i.e. when the number of grains from which the diffraction pattern is formed decreases. The division of Debye rings into individual reflections also leads to a reduction of the statistical significance of the data obtained and an increase in the error in processing the diffraction patterns. Layer-by-layer analysis of the studied cold-rolled and annealed tubes made it possible to identify the features of plastic deformation of the tubes.

The work was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation (project № 24-79-10289, https://rscf.ru/project/24-79-10289/).
The authors express their gratitude to the Joint-stock company “Advanced Research Institute of Inorganic Materials named after Academician A. A. Bochvar” for providing samples for the study.
X-ray diffraction studies were performed using the unique scientific facility “Kurchatov synchrotron radiation source “KISI-Kurchatov” of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”.

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