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Niobium is a silver-grey, rare, soft and ductile transition metal. Its oxide, niobium pentoxide, has a similar function to aluminum oxide and zinc oxide, and can protect the interior of the metal from being damaged. corrosion. Niobium has a small thermal neutron absorption cross-section, good corrosion resistance, and high high-temperature strength. It can be used as a structural material for atomic energy reactors and a packaging material for nuclear fuel. It can also be used as an additive for nuclear fuel. Niobium has a high superconducting transition temperature, and niobium compounds and alloys can be used to make superconducting materials. Niobium has good thermionic emission properties and can be used to make getters and mortgage rectifiers for vacuum tubes. Niobium and niobium alloys have high melting points and still have high strength at 1650°C.

Niobium-zirconium alloy refers to an alloy composed of metal zirconium added to metal niobium. It is a binary alloy composed of elements niobium and zirconium. The basic composition is Zr-1%Nb and Zr-2.5Nb%. Adding zirconium to niobium can improve the strength of the alloy without affecting the plasticity and processing properties of the alloy. Zirconium can also improve the alloy’s oxidation resistance and alkali metal corrosion resistance. With the increase in its application fields, the requirements for niobium-zirconium alloys are becoming higher and higher. Niobium-zirconium alloys are prepared by electron beam melting, hydrogenation treatment, dehydrogenation and isostatic pressing at room temperature.

The most important niobium-zirconium alloy is Nb-1Zr alloy. Nb-1Zr alloy is the most widely used niobium alloy. It is a low-strength niobium alloy with good processing and welding properties. It is mainly used in aerospace, atomic energy reactors, nuclear power plants and submarine reactors, new electric light source sodium lamps and other application fields.

Niobium-zirconium alloy has good corrosion resistance and mechanical properties against high temperature and high pressure water and steam at 300~400℃. The most outstanding thing about niobium-zirconium alloy is that it can grow a protective new oxide film where the oxide film peels off, and there is no obvious corrosion turning point.

Niobium-zirconium alloy has good corrosion resistance against acids, alkalis and salts. Zirconium mainly exists in a solid solution state in niobium alloys. When trace amounts of oxygen and carbon are present, or trace amounts of carbon are added, a small amount of carbides and oxides will disperse and precipitate. Adding zirconium to niobium can improve the strength of the alloy without affecting the plasticity and processing properties of the alloy. Zirconium can also improve the oxidation resistance and alkali metal corrosion resistance of the alloy.

According to the requirements for its performance and purity of interstitial impurities (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen) during use, Nb-1Zr alloy is produced by consumable electric arc furnace, electron beam furnace or a combined melting process of both to produce alloy ingots. For products with lower purity requirements, alloy ingots can also be formed by mixing niobium powder and zirconium powder and pressing and sintering them. The smelted alloy ingots need to be hot extruded or hot forged to form a billet, and then processed by forging, rolling, etc., to be made into various profiles. Powder sintered ingots can be directly processed into materials.