Effects of Hot Rolling Temperature and Aging on the Second Phase Particles of Zr-Sn-Nb-Fe Zirconium Alloy

•The effect of increasing hot rolling temperature is to making the second phase particles(SPPs) grow larger, the distribution of the SPPs more non-uniform, the number of β-Nb particles increase and the average Nb/Fe ratio of Zr-Nb-Fe particles increase firstly and then decrease.•The effects of ageing time during processing is to leading to the mean diameter of SPPs become larger and reduce of Nb/Fe ratio further.•The hot rolling temperature is generally higher than 650℃ in industry production, while the research shows that the lower hot rolling temperature(620℃) is beneficial to the alloy, which can be used as the experimental basis for the improvement of hot rolling process.