Niobium Zirconium Alloys

Application of Niobium-Zirconium alloys

Niobium-Zirconium alloys (Nb-1Zr) and PWC-11 alloys (Nb-1Zr-0.1C) have been used in the SP-100 design as basic materials for lithium coolant boundaries, reactor shells and parts inside fuel casings. Nb-1Zr alloy has 50% higher yield strength than pure Niobium and has the same corrosion resistance as pure Niobium in many solutions. Zirconium alloys which contains Niobium are used in heavy-water cooling of reactor pressure piping and reactor casings.

High pressure sodium lamp is a new type of light source in the early 1960s. It saves 80% of the electricity than incandescent lamp. It has high luminous efficiency and long service life (3000-5000h).
One of the key materials for manufacturing high pressure sodium lamp is pure Niobium Cap and Niobium Zirconium alloy exhaust pipe.