Examination of residual stresses and texture in zirconium alloy cladding tubes after a large plastic deformation: Experimental and numerical study

X-ray diffraction is used to assess the development of residual stresses within the grains of Zr alloy tubes processed via cold pilgering. A modified elastoplastic self-consistent model was used to simulate the texture and the internal stresses developments. The influence and the role of elastoplastic anisotropy were also studied and explained in this work. The contribution and the magnitude of the first- as well as the second-order residual stresses were correctly evaluated using information from the model. Comparison between the X-ray diffraction results (texture and residual strains) and the simulations confirms that prismatic slip is the main active deformation mode in this alloy under large strain.