Cavity morphology in a Ni based superalloy under heavy ion irradiation with cold pre-injected helium. I

Journal Article · Fri Mar 14 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4867637· OSTI ID:22277895

Zhang, He; Yao, Zhongwen; Daymond, Mark R. ^[1]; Kirk, Marquis A. ^[2]

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1. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen's University Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 (Canada)
2. Material Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)

In order to understand radiation damage in the nickel based superalloy Inconel X-750 in thermal reactors, where (n, α) transmutation reaction also occurred in addition to fast neutron induced atomic displacement, heavy ion (1 MeV Kr{sup 2+}) irradiation with pre-injected helium was performed under in-situ observations of an intermediate voltage electron microscope at Argonne National Laboratory. By comparing to our previous studies using 1 MeV Kr{sup 2+} irradiation solely, the pre-injected helium was found to be essential in cavity nucleation. Cavities started to be visible after Kr{sup 2+} irradiation to 2.7 dpa at ≥200 °C in samples containing 200 appm, 1000 appm, and 5000 appm helium, respectively, but not at lower temperatures. The cavity growth was observed during the continuous irradiation. Cavity formation appeared along with a reduced number density of stacking fault tetrahedra, vacancy type defects. With higher pre-injected helium amount, a higher density of smaller cavities was observed. This is considered to be the result of local trapping effect of helium which disperses vacancies. The average cavity size increases with increasing irradiation temperatures; the density reduced; and the distribution of cavities became heterogeneous at elevated temperatures. In contrast to previous characterization of in-reactor neutron irradiated Inconel X-750, no obvious cavity sink to grain boundaries and phase boundaries was found even at high doses and elevated temperatures. MC-type carbides were observed as strong sources for agglomeration of cavities due to their enhanced trapping strength of helium and vacancies.

• OSTI ID: 22277895
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 115; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ATOMIC DISPLACEMENTS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DENSITY
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
FAST NEUTRONS
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
HELIUM
INCONEL ALLOYS
KRYPTON IONS
MORPHOLOGY
NICKEL
NICKEL BASE ALLOYS
RADIATION DOSES
STACKING FAULTS
TRAPPING
VACANCIES