Fabrication of 20wt%Ti-V Alloy Tubing for Nuclear Fuel Cladding

A recently developed technology for the consolidation and fabrication of high-quality small-diameter (< 5 mm) thin-wall (< 0.55 mm) tubing of 20wt%Ti-V alloy is described. Compacted vanadium chip and titanium sponge feed rods are electron-beam melted, followed by arc melting of the electron-beam ingot. The arc-cast ingot breakdown is by extrusion. Tube blanks are produced by a secondary extrusion operation. The tube blanks are cold finished by swaging and drawing to the final tube size with intermediate vacuum anneals as required. Problems and solutions are discussed.