Patents Assigned to Cezus
  • Patent number: 7988946
    Abstract: The method allows ZrF4 to be converted into ZrO2, by carrying out a thermal conversion operation based on solid ZrF4 and water which are heated in a reactor until converted into ZrO2. The initial ratio by weight of ZrF4 to water is in particular between 1/5 and 1/500, and this ratio is maintained substantially for the entire duration of the conversion. The thermal conversion is carried out at a temperature greater than or equal to 300° C. The invention is used in particular for recycling pickling baths for zirconium alloys.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne du Zirconium-Cezus
    Inventors: Léonard Chittaro, David Lasalmonie
  • Patent number: 7763132
    Abstract: A large ingot is produced by casting the zirconium alloy, then the ingot is forged in two stages to obtain the semi-finished product wherein the first stage of forging the ingot is performed at a temperature at which the zirconium alloy is in a state comprising crystalline ? and ? phases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2010
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne du Zirconium-Cezus
    Inventors: Pierre Barberis, Noël Rizzi, Xavier Robbe
  • Patent number: 7708962
    Abstract: A process for the separation and purification of hafnium and zirconium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2010
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne du Zirconium-Cezus
    Inventors: Laurence Delons, Stéphane Lagarde, Alain Favre-Reguillon, Stéphane Pellet-Rostaing, Marc Lemaire, Ludovic Poriel
  • Patent number: 7630470
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a zirconium alloy flat product, the method being characterized by: preparing or casting a zirconium alloy ingot containing at least 95% by weight of zirconium, and including the usual impurities and alloying elements; shaping said ingot in order to obtain a flat product; subjecting said flat product to a ? quenching operation under conditions that are determined to obtain within the flat product an acicular structure at the end of said ? quenching; subjecting said flat product, after the ? quenching, to a rolling operation performed in a single rolling sequence without intermediate annealing, said rolling being performed at a temperature lying in the range ambient to 200° C., and having a reduction ratio lying in the range 2% to 20%; and subjecting said rolled flat product to an annealing treatment in the a range or in the ?+? range, performed in the temperature range 500° C. to 800° C. for 2 minutes to 10 hours.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2009
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne du Zirconium-Cezus
    Inventors: Pierre Barberis, Claude Simonot
  • Patent number: 7364631
    Abstract: The alloy contains, by weight, at least 95% zirconium and from 0.01 to 0.1% sulphur and, optionally, at least one element from the group consisting of the elements tin, iron, chromium, hafnium, niobium, nickel, oxygen and vanadium, the balance of the alloy consisting of inevitable impurities. The sulphur is present in the alloy in the dissolved state, thereby improving the creep strength and in the form of uniformly distributed fine precipitates, thereby improving the corrosion and hydriding resistance. The alloy may be heated by a solution annealing treatment in the ? phase followed by a quench or by a soak at a temperature below 950° C. in order to transform it into the ? or ?+? phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2008
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne du Zirconium Cezus
    Inventor: Daniel Charquet
  • Patent number: 6718811
    Abstract: A tubular blank (22) is rolled on a mandrel (14) in a pilgrim rolling mill. In a first rolling stage, a first part of the blank (22) is rolled on a first part (18,19) of the mandrel (14), with a reduction of the outside diameter of the blank (22) to the outside diameter of the guide tube and a reduction of the wall thickness of the blank (22) to one of a first wall thickness (e1) and a second wall thickness (e2) exceeding the first wall thickness (e1). The mandrel (14) is advanced in the axial direction. A second part of the blank (22) is rolled on a second part (20,21) of the mandrel spaced from the first part in the axial direction with a reduction of the outside diameter of the blank to the outside diameter of the guide tube and a reduction of the wall thickness of the blank (22) to the other of the first wall thickness (e1) and second wall thickness (e2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2004
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne du dirconium-Cezus
    Inventors: Jean Drillon, Jean-Luc Aubin
  • Patent number: 6544361
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for making flat, thin elements which consist of: producing a zirconium alloy blank also containing, besides the inevitable impurities, 0.8 to 1.3% of niobium, 1100 to 1800 ppm of oxygen, and 10 to 35 ppm of sulfur; carrying out a &bgr; hardening and hot rolling to obtain a blank and performing on it at least three cold rolling passes with intermediate annealing heat treatments. One of the intermediate heat treatments is performed for a duration of at least 5 hours at a temperature less than 560° C. and all the optional treatments subsequent to the long treatment are carried out at a temperature of less than 620° C. for not more than 15 minutes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2003
    Assignees: Framatome ANP, Cezus
    Inventors: Jésus Diz, Gérard Bunel
  • Patent number: 5832050
    Abstract: The alloy has a base composition similar to that of a zirconium alloy of known type used for the manufacture of an element intended for use in the core of a nuclear reactor, such as a cladding tube, a guide tube, or another structural element of a fuel assembly. In addition, the alloy contains sulphur in a proportion by weight of between 8 and 100 ppm and preferably between 8 and 30 ppm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1998
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeene du Zirconium Cezus
    Inventors: Veronique Rebeyrolle, Daniel Charquet
  • Patent number: 5735978
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a tube suitable for use as sheath of a nuclear fuel rod zirconium based alloy. The alloy contains 0.18% to 0.25% iron, 0.07% to 0.13% chromium, 0.35% to 1.70% tin, all percentages by weight, 900 ppm to 2300 ppm oxygen, 80 ppm to 200 ppm carbon, and 50 ppm to 120 ppm silicon. A drawn blank is subjected to successive passes of metallurgical treatment and of heat treatment. The Fe/Cr ratio by weight in the alloy lies in the range 1.6 to 3. The heat treatment includes, after at least one rolling pass, a plurality of annealing passes under an inert atmosphere such that the sum .SIGMA.A is greater than 1.5.10.sup.-17, and advantageously in the range 2.10.sup.-17 to 2.10.sup.-16. The first rolling pass is performed on the tube coming from the drawing operation, without an intermediate annealing. .SIGMA.A designates the sum of the products of the times t (in hours) multiplied by the exponential of --Q/RT, where T is the temperature in K.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 7, 1998
    Assignees: Framatome, Compagnie Generale des Matieres Nuclearies, Cezus, Zircotube
    Inventors: Jean-Paul Mardon, Jean Senevat, Daniel Charquet
  • Patent number: 5674330
    Abstract: A process for the fabrication of zirconium alloy sheet specifically intended for the manufacture of structural elements for boiling water reactors, which includes the following steps:a) producing in a vacuum an ingot having the composition of the desired alloy;b) forging and hot rolling the ingot;c) quenching of the blank thus obtained after reheating in the beta range;d) hot rolling after heating;e) heat treatment in the alpha range;f) at least one cycle of cold rolling followed by a heat treating in the alpha range; andg) final cold rolling followed by subcritical annealing in the alpha range;where the hot rolling of the sheet after quenching from the beta range is carried out in an initial direction, then in a direction perpendicular to the initial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 7, 1997
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeene du Zirconium Cezus
    Inventors: Daniel Charquet, Pierre Barberis, Gerard Bunel
  • Patent number: 5627910
    Abstract: The invention is a process for inspecting chips and/or fragments of metal or metal alloy to eliminate from them inclusions of a more X-ray absorbent material than the metal or alloy, wherein a field that delimits a portion of these chips and/or fragments is X-rayed. The process produces an X-ray image which is then converted into an electronic image. This image is analyzed in order to detect the inclusion(s) having features. The features include a background correction of the degree of illumination of each pixel in the field in the absence of chips and/or fragments, a field is covered with the portion of chips and/or fragments, and the electronic image is corrected by subtracting the background correction from the degree of illumination of each of its pixels, and the portion of chips and/or fragments is rejected if this corrected image contains at least one relative pixel corresponding to a chosen condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1994
    Date of Patent: May 6, 1997
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne Du Zirconium Cezus
    Inventors: Maurice Gachet, Thierry Ancillon
  • Patent number: 5622574
    Abstract: A product having at least an exterior surface formed by a Zr alloy comprising the following addition elements (% by weight): Sn 0.40 to 1.70, Fe 0.05 to 0.25, Cr 0.03 to 0.16, Ni less than 0.08; the following maximum amounts of impurities (ppm): Al 75, B 0.5, Cd 0.5, C 270, Co 20, Cu 50, Hf 100, H.sub.2 25, Mg 20, Mn 50, Mo 50, N.sub.2 65, Si 120, Ti 50, W 10, U total 3.5; with the balance being O.sub.2 and Zr, wherein the Zr alloy has an Ni content which is greater than 70 ppm and less than 300 ppm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 22, 1997
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne Du Zirconium Cezus
    Inventor: Daniel Charquet
  • Patent number: 5609697
    Abstract: The invention concerns a process for the production of a tubular zircaloy 2 blank which is internally clad with zirconium for use in producing composite cladding tubes for nuclear fuel. The internal zirconium cladding is rendered suitable for ultrasound monitoring of its thickness by an appropriate thermomechanical treatment which takes place during one or more of the production steps for said blank. The aim is to adjust the grain size to an ASTM index of between 9 and 12 for the zircaloy 2 and between 6 and 10 for the unalloyed zirconium, retaining a grain size difference between the zircaloy 2 and the unalloyed zirconium of at least 2 ASTM index numbers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1997
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeene du Zirconium Cezus
    Inventors: Philippe Moinard, Yvon Millet
  • Patent number: 5487797
    Abstract: A process for the manufacture of a sheet, band or strip of zirconium alloy or hafnium alloy, comprising hot roughing of an ingot into a blank, then hot rolling of this blank in the alpha domain, this hot rolling including several passes which follow one or more reheatings in a furnace at one or more temperatures (TR), each of which improves the formability of this blank, then cold rolling which consists of one or more cycles of rolling pinch passing/heat treatment. The hot rolling pass following the last furnace reheating is followed by reheating of the hot rolled blank by at least 100.degree. C. at more than 4.degree. C./s by infrared heating means with a wavelength between 0.8 and 5 micrometers. The hot rolling is then continued until the thickness at the end of the hot rolling is less than or equal to 0.8 times the thickness of the hot rolled blank. The product obtained is used for the manufacture of zirconium or hafnium alloy parts for water-type nuclear reactors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 30, 1996
    Assignee: Cezus Compagnie Europeenne du Zirconium
    Inventors: Gerard Dumas, Pierre Barberis, Gerard Bunel
  • Patent number: 5478419
    Abstract: A process for the manufacture of a flat product of zirconium alloy having a width between 50 and 600 mm from a flat cold rolled product. The cold rolled product is heated to the beta range and maintained in the beta range using an infra-red heating device with a wavelength of between 0.8 and 5 microns, the maximum temperature difference over the width of the product being less than 35.degree. C. The product is then rapidly cooled and optionally annealed to obtain a flat product, which can be a strip, sheet or band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 26, 1995
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne du Zirconium Cezus
    Inventors: Gerard Dumas, Pierre Barberis, Gerard Bunel
  • Patent number: 5471879
    Abstract: The invention relates to an ultrasonic process for testing, by immersion, the soundness of a metal piece (26) using at least one transducer (21) emitting ultrasonic waves focused in the piece (26). There are a plurality of transducers (21) used. Each of the transducers having in the tested piece (26) a focal spot at -6 dB, the section of which, perpendicular to the axis of propagation of the waves is less than 40 mm2. The focal spots of the transducers (21) being distributed depending on the depth to be tested of the piece (26). Additionally, the invention describes a process to guarantee the soundness of the interior of a piece (26), in particular a bar made of a titanium alloy (26) of a diameter of between about 50 and 400 mm for use in aeronautics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 5, 1995
    Assignees: Compagnie Europeene du Zirconium Cezus, Framatome
    Inventors: Jacques Vinot, Christian Moisson, Christian Eymond
  • Patent number: 5386396
    Abstract: The process comprises the steps of calculating, by varying the opening angle of a cluster, a first group of reference points of x, z coordinates in an incidence plane of the beam, so that the times taken by the ultrasounds to pass through the reference points and through the focal point are identical, then calculating a second group of reference points of y, z coordinates in a plane perpendicular to the incidence plane, defining two polynomials of degree 4 by polynomial interpolation by the method of least squares of the two previously calculated groups of points of the following form: f(x)-ax.sup.4 +bx.sup.3 +cx.sup.2 +dx g(y)=a'y.sup.4 +b'y.sup.3 +c'y.sup.2 +d'y, determining the x, y and z coordinates of the points of the output surface by the relation z=f(x)+g(y), and producing the output surface by means of the coordinates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 1993
    Date of Patent: January 31, 1995
    Assignees: Framatome, Compagnie Europeene du Zirconium dite Cezus
    Inventors: Damien Deltour, Pascal Dumont
  • Patent number: 5372659
    Abstract: An alloy comprising at least two refractory metals having melting temperatures differing by at least 200.degree. C., and being present in proportions by weight such that solidification begins at a temperature at least 150.degree. C. less than the solidification temperature of the metal having the highest melting point. The alloy is produced by coelectrodeposition, and is in the form of conglomerates of dimensions between 0.2 and 30 mm of crystals of size 0.1 to 1 mm, in which the refractory metals are in a solid solution state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 13, 1994
    Assignee: Cezus-Compagnie Europeenne Du Zirconium
    Inventors: Airy-Pierre Lamaze, Christophe Mennetrier
  • Patent number: 5304263
    Abstract: A titanium alloy part having a structure comprising ex-beta acicular grains and with equi-axial alpha phases gathered in a plurality of rows at boundaries of the grains. The alloy comprises, by weight, 2 to 5% Mo, 3.5 to 6.5% Al, 1.5 to 2.5% Sn, 1.5 to 4.8% Zr, Fe.ltoreq.1.5%, 4 to 12% Mo+V+Cr, and the balance, titanium and impurities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 19, 1994
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne Du Zirconium Cezus
    Inventors: Bernard Champin, Bernard Prandi
  • Patent number: 5264055
    Abstract: A method of producing a part having high strength and improved ductility from a titanium alloy having a composition, in percent by weight, or Mo equivalent 5 to 13 and Al equivalent 3 to 8, the balance being titanium and impurities, comprising the steps of hot working an ingot of the alloy including a roughing down under heat and preparation of a blank under heat, preheating to a temperature situated above the real beta transus of the hot worked alloy, and then final working of at least a part of this blank, after which the blank obtained is subjected to a solution heat treatment and then aged. The hot worked blank is cooled from the preheating temperature to a temperature for the beginning of final working which, under the conditions of the cooling of the blank, is at least 50.degree. C. below the real beta tansus and at least 10.degree. C. above the temperature of appearance of the alpha phase, so that the final working is sufficient to end within the alpha nucleation range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 1992
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1993
    Assignee: Compagnie Europeenne du Zirconium Cezus
    Inventors: Bernard Champin, Bernard Prandi