A V4Ti alloy and several V4Cr4Ti alloys with different oxygen contents were studied on their tensile properties with the effect of hydrogen concentrations. The ductility of the alloys showed a successive decrease in a varied rate with an increased hydrogen concentration, while the ultimate tensile strength remained unchanged or even decreased for the high oxygen content alloy in spite of the occurrence of hardening in the low oxygen content alloy. Oxygen in the alloy causes grain boundary weakening, increasing the possibility of intergranular fractures and thus enhancing the hydrogen embrittlement. V4Ti showed a higher resistance to the hydrogen embrittlement as compared to the V4Cr4Ti alloys on a similar oxygen content level.
V-4Cr-4Ti is the leading candidate vanadium alloy as structural material of a V-Li blanket. Due to the interaction between Ti and interstitial solutes of C, N, and O, precipitation occurs at 600--700℃, increases the alloy strength significantly but reduce its ductility. As the ductility reduction is in an acceptable level, the strengthening might be utilized for the components that are subjected to high stress levels. Although cold work （CW） is known as an effective way to strengthen an alloy, so far few reports were found on strengthening a vanadium alloy by cold rolling.
CHEN JimingMuroga T.Nagasaka T.Qiu S. Y.Li C.Chen Y.Liang B.XU Zengyu
Vanadium alloy has been taken as one of the candidate structural materials for fusion reactors because of its excellent high-temperature mecha nical performances, high thermal stress factor and low radioactivity. It is a kind of potential materials for hydrogen storage as well. Because operated in an environment conta!ning hydrogen and its isotopes or the neutron irradiation resulting transmutation product of H, the problem that H induced degradation of mechanical properties and hydrogen embrittlement has been being one of the key issues for the application for vanadium alloys.
Oxidation experiment was performed in air at elevated temperature for three kinds of vanadium alloys. The features of the oxides and the role of the alloying elements were analyzed. All specimens exhibited a parabolic kinetic behavior of weight gain with the exposure time. The alloys can't be used in air at the temperature over 700℃, below which, V4Ti3Al showed a much lower oxidation rate than the V4Cr4Ti alloy. It was found that Al in the alloy was segregated to the specimen surface in the process, and formed into Al2O3 on the surface, hence decreasing the formation of V2O5. The oxides on the surface were nucleated in a small number density and grew to a large size, giving more protection to the matrix alloy.
