In terms of its strength and corrosion resistance, silicon zirconium cannot meet the requirements of nuclear fuel cladding and pressure tubes. In the late 1940s, the United States began to study zirconium-based alloys in order to explore the application of zirconium in water-cooled reactors. By the mid-1950s, it was developed into a Zr-2 alloy (Zirca-loy-2) with excellent comprehensive properties, and used as the nuclear fuel cladding material for the world's first nuclear submarine "Nautilus", which was later made into Zr-4 ( Zircaloy-4), Zr-1Nb and Zr-2.5Nb alloys.
Over the past two decades, many other zirconium alloys have been studied in various countries, but because of their inferior comprehensive properties, they are not widely used. From sponge zirconium to zirconium alloy, countries that have achieved industrial production include the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Canada and China.
