4. Conclusion

Heat treatment of zirconium and hafnium alloys is an integral part of the alloy transformation process; it not only determines performance (product quality, absence of defects, cracks, etc.), but also properties (texture and mechanical properties or, more generally, deformation properties, including under irradiation, corrosion, etc.).

It is therefore vital to control them, and tolerances on temperatures and treatment times are always clearly specified, often within narrow ranges. Numerical modeling is an invaluable tool for validating and specifying these heat treatments.

Many lines of research are still open, such as the evolution of textures during recrystallization or even more so during quenching operations, the modeling of recrystallization after work-hardening or during hot deformation, and the determination of residual stresses....