Torsion texture development of zirconium alloys

In order to study texture formation during high temperature torsion tests of Zirconium alloys, results from experiments and simulations are presented and compared in this paper. Simulations put in evidence that the Viscoplastic Selfconsistent model (VPSC), in spite of some limitations for the description of plastic deformation at high temperatures, gives a reasonable description of the experimental textures. Predictions show that prismatic and basal 〈a〉 slip are necessary to reproduce the main texture components and that pyramidal 〈c+a〉 slip must have a low activity.