Atom probe study of second-phase particles in Zircaloy-4

Siyu Huang; Levi Tegg; Sima Aminorroaya Yamini; Vidur Tuli; Patrick Burr; Ingrid McCarroll; Limei Yang; Katie Moore; Julie M. Cairney

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156049

Atom probe study of second-phase particles in Zircaloy-4

Siyu Huang, Levi Tegg, Sima Aminorroaya Yamini, Vidur Tuli, Patrick Burr, Ingrid McCarroll, Limei Yang, Katie Moore, Julie M. Cairney ^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Materials Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Zirconium (Zr) alloys, such as Zircaloy-4 (Zy-4), are widely used for cladding in nuclear applications. Zy-4 consists of an α-Zr matrix and various second phase particles (SPPs). These precipitates play a crucial role in determining the overall alloy performance, so understanding their composition is essential for the development of these nuclear materials. We have studied two SPPs in this alloy, Zr(Fe,Cr)₂ and Zr₂(Si,Fe), using site-specific focused ion-beam lift-out and atom probe tomography, and measured the composition and distribution of alloying elements at the precipitate/matrix interface. Residual Cu and B segregated to the interfaces of both precipitates and the matrix while Sn only segregated to the interface in the Zr₂(Fe,Si) precipitate. Hydrogen segregation was observed at the interface of Zr(Fe,Cr)₂ and the matrix.

Original language	English
Article number	156049
Journal	Journal of Nuclear Materials
Volume	616
Early online date	20 Jul 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156049
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2025

Keywords

Zircaloy-4
Second phase particle
Atom probe tomography
Zr(Fe,Cr)2
Zr2(Si,Fe)

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10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156049Licence: CC BY

MPC: Materials Performance Centre
Burke, G. (PI), Engelberg, D. (PI), Preuss, M. (PI), Frankel, P. (PI), Jimenez-Melero, E. (PI), Pickering, E. (PI), Scenini, F. (PI), Stevens, N. (PI), Race, C. (PI), Connolly, B. (PI), Abdallah, M. (PGR student), Armson, S. (PGR student), Attar, H. (PGR student), Barron, P. (PGR student), Bird, J. (PGR student), Brown, A. (PGR student), Bruce, K. (PGR student), Buxton, O. (PGR student), Cassineri, S. (PGR student), Cattivelli, A. (PGR student), Chen, W. (PGR student), Collins, J. (PGR student), Debenham, L. (PGR student), Eaton-Mckay, J. (PGR student), Eguchi, K. (PGR student), Foster, D. (PGR student), Fox, C. (PGR student), Garrett, A. (PGR student), Gredis, A. (PGR student), Grime, T. (PGR student), Hou, J. (PGR student), Howe, B. (PGR student), Hughes, J. (PGR student), Hunt, C. (PGR student), Islam, U. (PGR student), Jalil, R. (PGR student), Jones, C. (PGR student), Kablan, A. (PGR student), Kapousidou, M. (PGR student), Koc, O. (PGR student), Kroll, R. (PGR student), Lang, R. (PGR student), Lennard, J. (PGR student), Liubercev, S. (PGR student), Mahmood, S. (PGR student), Maric, M. (PGR student), Martin, C. (PGR student), Mazzei, G. (PGR student), Rigby-Bell, M. (PGR student), Rogers, M. (PGR student), Sanchez, C. (PGR student), Shah, Z. (PGR student), Stavroulakis, E. (PGR student), Stuglik, P. (PGR student), Suleman, T. (PGR student), Supornpaibul, N. (PGR student), Thornley, S. (PGR student), Volpe, L. (PGR student), Wang, H. (PGR student), Wilson, M. (PGR student), Wilson, A. (PGR student), Woodward, T. (PGR student), Wylie, A. (PGR student), Xu, X. D. (PGR student), Yankova, M. (PGR student), Yildirim, E. (PGR student), Zhou, Y. (PGR student), Zhu, S. (PGR student), Barzdajn, B. (CoI), Carruthers, A. (CoI), Cassineri, S. (CoI), Chang, L. (CoI), Obasi, G. (CoI), Palko, S. (CoI), Reccagni, P. (CoI), Tang, R. (CoI), Thomas, R. (CoI), Unnikrishnan, R. (CoI), Zhang, Z. (CoI), Zhou, Y. (CoI) & Aspinall, A. (Support team)
1/01/02 → …
Project: Research

Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (NanoSIMS)
Moore, K. (Academic lead) & Li, K. (Technical Specialist)
Materials Engineering
Facility/equipment: Facility
Surface Characterisation
Spencer, B. (Core Facility Lead), Nikiel, M. (Technical Specialist), Sheraz, S. (Technical Specialist), Li, K. (Technical Specialist), Dwyer, L. (Technical Specialist), Wall, S. (Technical Specialist), Williams, W. (Technical Specialist), Forrest, A. (Senior Technician), Fong, J. (Senior Technician), Filip, T. (Technician), Kundu, S. (Technical Specialist), Moore, K. (Academic lead), Walton, A. (Academic lead) & Lockyer, N. (Academic lead)
FSE Research
Facility/equipment: Facility

Cite this

@article{ac26aff46e074d0695758c6a44aeb74d,

title = "Atom probe study of second-phase particles in Zircaloy-4",

abstract = "Zirconium (Zr) alloys, such as Zircaloy-4 (Zy-4), are widely used for cladding in nuclear applications. Zy-4 consists of an α-Zr matrix and various second phase particles (SPPs). These precipitates play a crucial role in determining the overall alloy performance, so understanding their composition is essential for the development of these nuclear materials. We have studied two SPPs in this alloy, Zr(Fe,Cr)2 and Zr2(Si,Fe), using site-specific focused ion-beam lift-out and atom probe tomography, and measured the composition and distribution of alloying elements at the precipitate/matrix interface. Residual Cu and B segregated to the interfaces of both precipitates and the matrix while Sn only segregated to the interface in the Zr2(Fe,Si) precipitate. Hydrogen segregation was observed at the interface of Zr(Fe,Cr)2 and the matrix.",

keywords = "Zircaloy-4, Second phase particle, Atom probe tomography, Zr(Fe,Cr)2, Zr2(Si,Fe)",

author = "Siyu Huang and Levi Tegg and \{Aminorroaya Yamini\}, Sima and Vidur Tuli and Patrick Burr and Ingrid McCarroll and Limei Yang and Katie Moore and Cairney, \{Julie M.\}",

year = "2025",

month = oct,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156049",

language = "English",

volume = "616",

journal = "Journal of Nuclear Materials",

issn = "0022-3115",

publisher = "Elsevier BV",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Atom probe study of second-phase particles in Zircaloy-4

AU - Huang, Siyu

AU - Tegg, Levi

AU - Aminorroaya Yamini, Sima

AU - Tuli, Vidur

AU - Burr, Patrick

AU - McCarroll, Ingrid

AU - Yang, Limei

AU - Moore, Katie

AU - Cairney , Julie M.

PY - 2025/10/1

Y1 - 2025/10/1

N2 - Zirconium (Zr) alloys, such as Zircaloy-4 (Zy-4), are widely used for cladding in nuclear applications. Zy-4 consists of an α-Zr matrix and various second phase particles (SPPs). These precipitates play a crucial role in determining the overall alloy performance, so understanding their composition is essential for the development of these nuclear materials. We have studied two SPPs in this alloy, Zr(Fe,Cr)2 and Zr2(Si,Fe), using site-specific focused ion-beam lift-out and atom probe tomography, and measured the composition and distribution of alloying elements at the precipitate/matrix interface. Residual Cu and B segregated to the interfaces of both precipitates and the matrix while Sn only segregated to the interface in the Zr2(Fe,Si) precipitate. Hydrogen segregation was observed at the interface of Zr(Fe,Cr)2 and the matrix.

AB - Zirconium (Zr) alloys, such as Zircaloy-4 (Zy-4), are widely used for cladding in nuclear applications. Zy-4 consists of an α-Zr matrix and various second phase particles (SPPs). These precipitates play a crucial role in determining the overall alloy performance, so understanding their composition is essential for the development of these nuclear materials. We have studied two SPPs in this alloy, Zr(Fe,Cr)2 and Zr2(Si,Fe), using site-specific focused ion-beam lift-out and atom probe tomography, and measured the composition and distribution of alloying elements at the precipitate/matrix interface. Residual Cu and B segregated to the interfaces of both precipitates and the matrix while Sn only segregated to the interface in the Zr2(Fe,Si) precipitate. Hydrogen segregation was observed at the interface of Zr(Fe,Cr)2 and the matrix.

KW - Zircaloy-4

KW - Second phase particle

KW - Atom probe tomography

KW - Zr(Fe,Cr)2

KW - Zr2(Si,Fe)

U2 - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156049

DO - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156049

M3 - Article

SN - 0022-3115

VL - 616

JO - Journal of Nuclear Materials

JF - Journal of Nuclear Materials

M1 - 156049

ER -

Atom probe study of second-phase particles in Zircaloy-4

Abstract

Keywords

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Projects

MPC: Materials Performance Centre

Equipment

Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (NanoSIMS)

Surface Characterisation

Cite this