3. Cold forming of finished parts

Generally speaking, all conventional cold forming processes are potentially applicable to Zr and Hf alloys. For the purposes of this article, we will confine ourselves to the processes used in the nuclear industry for the manufacture of fuel assembly components.

Hf alloys are generally less ductile than Zr alloys (with a significant effect of oxygen content, which makes them more brittle) and require more intermediate heat treatments to be cold-formed.