Effect of self-ion irradiation on the microstructural changes of alloy EK-181 in annealed and severely deformed conditions

2017 Elsevier B.V. EK-181 is a low-activation ferritic/martensitic steel that is an attractive candidate for in-core component materials for both fast reactors and fusion reactors. To assess the effect of microstructural engineering on radiation response, two variants of EK-181 were studied: one in an annealed condition and the other subject to severe plastic deformation. These specimens were irradiated with 3.5 MeV Fe self-ions up to 400 peak displacements per atom (dpa) at temperatures ranging from 400 C to 500 C. The deformation did not suppress swelling over the whole irradiated region. Instead, deformed samples showed higher swelling in the near-surface region. Void swelling was found to be correlated with grain boundary instability. Significant grain growth occurred when steady-state void growth started.

Aydogan, E., Chen, T., Gigax, J. G., Chen, D., Wang, X., Dzhumaev, P. S., ... Shao, L.

Aydogan, E||Chen, T||Gigax, JG||Chen, D||Wang, X||Dzhumaev, PS||Emelyanova, OV||Ganchenkova, MG||Kalin, BA||Leontiva-Smirnova, M||Valiev, RZ||Enikeev, NA||Abramova, MM||Wu, Y||Lo, WV||Yang, Y||Short, M||Maloy, SA||Garner, FA||Shao, L

Effect of self-ion irradiation on the microstructural changes of alloy EK-181 in annealed and severely deformed conditions Academic Article