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Hardening and Microstructure of Model Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel Alloys Using Proton Irradiation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

Q. Yu ,
G. S. Was ,
L. M. Wang ,
R. Odette  and
D. E. Alexander
Q. Yu
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan
G. S. Was
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan
L. M. Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan
R. Odette
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Santa Barbara
D. E. Alexander
Affiliation:
Materail Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory
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Abstract

As part of a broad effort to understand the mechanisms of irradiation embrittlement in reactor pressure vessels steels, irradiation hardening and microstructural evolution in simple model Fe-0.9Cu-1.0Mn, Fe-0.9Cu and Fe alloys irradiated with 3.2 MeV protons at 300°C are compared to the corresponding changes in hardening produced by neutron irradiation over a similar dose range of 0.0004 to 0.015 dpa. In the case of the proton irradiated samples, Vickers hardness was measured at a 25 g load and the microstructures were characterized using small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). In spite of the much higher dpa rate for protons (3 × 10−7 dpa/s compared to neutron rates of about 10−9 to 10−10 dpa/s) as well as very different primary recoil spectra, the observed hardening-dose response is very similar in both cases. The large increase in hardness in the alloys with 0.9% copper, and the SAXS data are consistent with precipitation of coherent copper-rich features accelerated by irradiation enhanced diffusion, as well as a much smaller contribution presumably from defect clusters that do not require the presence of copper.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 650: Symposium R – Microstructural Processes in Irradiated Materials-2000 , 2000 , R6.2
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2001

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References

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