A report about the sirconium-iron-tin system and the details of melting and heat treating procedures for alloys of this system.

From abstract: "Transformation kinetics of binary U -Nb and ternary U-Nb-base alloys were investigated. Additions included zirconium, chromium, titanium, silicon, nickel, nnthenium, and vanadium. Encapsulated samples were given a homogenizstion anneal at 1000 or 1100/sup o/C, water-quenched from 906/sup o/C to retain the phase, and reheated to temperatures between 360 and 600/sup o/C. The metastability of the phase was examined by metallographic, hardness, resistometric, dilatometric and x-ray-diffraction techniques. The U -Nb system is characterized by a monotectoid decomposition of the high temperature allotrope at about 645/sup o/C to form alpha and ₂, a niobium-rich cubic structure. Decomposition in U-Nb and in most U-Nb-X alloys occurred by a continuous precipithtion of alpha from the body-centered cubic phase with a resultant enrichment in niobium of until the equilibrium ₂ composition was reached. In the U-Nb-Ti and U-Nb-V systems, alpha and /sub 2/ were coprecipitated. Annealing at 550 and 600/sup o/C produced decomposition products which, in most materials, originated at the grain boundaries; a fine precipitate which initiated throughout the matrix was observed at lower annealing temperatures. Increasing the niobium content resulted in greatly increased stability. The following elements added to a U-Nb base were found to retard transformation of the phase: zirconium, …