Final Report on Neutron Irradiation at Low Temperature to Investigate Plastic Instability and at High Temperature to Study Cavitation (original) (raw)

Effects of neutron irradiation on defect accumulation and physical and mechanical properties of pure iron and F82H and EUROFER 97 ferritic-martensitic steels have been investigated. Tensile specimens were neutron irradiated to a dose level of 0,23 dpa at 333 and 573 K. Electrical resistivity and tensile properties were measured both in the unirradiated and irradiated condition. Some additional specimens of pure iron were irradiated at 333 K to doses of 10-3 , 10-2 and 10-1 dpa and tensile tested at 333 K. To investigate the effect of helium on cavity nucleation and growth, specimens of pure iron and EUROFER 97 were implanted with different amounts of helium at 323 K and subsequently neutron irradiated to doses of 10-3 , 10-2 and 10-1 dpa at 323 K. Defect microstructures were investigated using positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Numerical calculations, based on the production bias model (PBM) were carried out to study the details of evolution of cavities with and without helium generation. The phenomena of dislocation decoration and raft formation, which are important for understanding radiation hardening and plastic flow localization, have been studied using the Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) code during a realistic dynamic irradiation of bcc iron at 300 K. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been carried out to study the stress dependencies of dislocation velocity and drag coefficient for an edge dislocation decorated with small SIA loops.The present report describes both experimental procedure and calculational methodology employed in the present work. The main results of all these investigations, both experimental and theoretical, are highlighted with appropriate examples. Finally, a brief summary is given of the main results conclusions.