DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Microstructure and mechanical properties of FeCrAl alloys under heavy ion irradiations

Journal Article · · Journal of Nuclear Materials

FeCrAl ferritic alloys are excellent cladding candidates for accident tolerant fuel systems due to their high resistance to oxidation as a result of formation of a protective Al2O3 scale at high temperatures in steam. In this study, we report the irradiation response of the 10Cr and 13Cr FeCrAl cladding tubes under Fe2+ ion irradiation up to ~16 dpa at 300 °C. Dislocation loop size, density and characteristics were determined using both two beam bright field transmission electron microscopy and on-zone scanning transmission electron microscopy techniques. 10Cr (C06M2) tube has a lower dislocation density, larger grain size and a slightly weaker texture compared to the 13Cr (C36M3) tube before irradiation. After irradiation to 0.7 dpa and 16 dpa, the fraction of <100> type sessile dislocations decreases with increasing Cr amount in the alloys. It has been found that there is neither void formation nor α' precipitation as a result of ion irradiations in either alloy. Therefore, dislocation loops were determined to be the only irradiation induced defects contributing to the hardening. Nanoindentation testing before the irradiation revealed that the average nanohardness of the C36M3 tube is higher than that of the C06M2 tube. The average nanohardness of irradiated tube samples saturated at 1.6-2.0 GPa hardening for both tubes between ~3.4 dpa and ~16 dpa. The hardening calculated based on transmission electron microscopy was found to be consistent with nanohardness measurements.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1425772
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1548647; OSTI ID: 22749591
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-18-20922
Journal Information:
Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Journal Issue: C Vol. 503; ISSN 0022-3115
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (71)

Nanoindentation of model Fe–Cr alloys with self-ion irradiation journal February 2013
Understanding the effects of ion irradiation using nanoindentation techniques journal July 2015
An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments journal June 1992
The effect of heat treatment on recrystallized microstructure, precipitation and ductility of hot-rolled Fe–Cr–Al–REM ferritic stainless steel sheets journal February 2013
Correlation of neutron and heavy-ion damage journal November 1978
Dynamic observations of heavy-ion damage in Fe and Fe–Cr alloys journal May 2009
Indentation size effects in crystalline materials: A law for strain gradient plasticity journal March 1998
Irradiation-enhanced α′ precipitation in model FeCrAl alloys journal April 2016
Effect of shock loading on the microstructure, mechanical properties and grain boundary characteristics of HT-9 ferritic/martensitic steels journal January 2016
Development and property evaluation of nuclear grade wrought FeCrAl fuel cladding for light water reactors journal December 2015
Intra granular precipitation and grain boundary segregation under neutron irradiation in a low purity Fe–Cr based alloy journal June 2012
Mechanical properties of neutron-irradiated model and commercial FeCrAl alloys journal June 2017
Mechanical Performance of Ferritic Martensitic Steels for High Dose Applications in Advanced Nuclear Reactors journal December 2012
Cr precipitation in neutron irradiated industrial purity Fe–Cr model alloys journal January 2013
The Indentation Size Effect: A Critical Examination of Experimental Observations and Mechanistic Interpretations journal June 2010
Mapping of 475°C embrittlement in ferritic Fe–Cr–Al alloys journal November 2010
Alumina Scale Formation on a Powder Metallurgical FeCrAl Alloy (Kanthal APMT) at 900–1,100 °C in Dry O2 and in O2 + H2O journal September 2009
The temperature dependence of heavy-ion damage in iron: A microstructural transition at elevated temperatures journal December 2010
Depth distribution of Frank loop defects formed in ion-irradiated stainless steel and its dependence on Si addition journal December 2015
Deformation behaviour of iron-rich iron-aluminum alloys at low temperatures journal June 2003
Effect of Cr on the mechanical properties and microstructure of Fe–Cr model alloys after n-irradiation journal June 2008
Theory of transitions in dose dependence of radiation effects in structural alloys journal November 1993
Effect of self-ion irradiation on the microstructural changes of alloy EK-181 in annealed and severely deformed conditions journal April 2017
Atom probe study of irradiation-enhanced α′ precipitation in neutron-irradiated Fe–Cr model alloys journal July 2015
The evolution of mechanical property change in irradiated austenitic stainless steels journal November 1993
Dislocation loops and bubbles in oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic steel after helium implantation under stress journal January 2008
The relationship between hardness and yield stress in irradiated austenitic and ferritic steels journal February 2005
Effects of alloying elements (Mo, Si) in an austenitic stainless steel on dislocation loop nucleation under ion irradiation journal December 1993
A review of nanoindentation continuous stiffness measurement technique and its applications journal February 2002
Effect of α–α′ phase separation on notch impact behavior of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) Fe20Cr5Al alloy journal January 2014
A model of size effects in nano-indentation journal August 2006
Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: Advances in understanding and refinements to methodology journal January 2004
Mechanism of Formation and Growth of 〈 100 〉 Interstitial Loops in Ferritic Materials journal June 2002
EELS log-ratio technique for specimen-thickness measurement in the TEM journal February 1988
Opportunities and limitations for ion beams in radiation effects studies: Bridging critical gaps between charged particle and neutron irradiations journal January 2018
Segregation behavior in proton- and heavy-ion-irradiated ferritic–martensitic alloys journal June 2011
α′ precipitation in neutron-irradiated Fe–Cr alloys journal March 2014
Advanced oxidation-resistant iron-based alloys for LWR fuel cladding journal May 2014
Behaviour of P, Si, Ni impurities and Cr in self ion irradiated Fe–Cr alloys – Comparison to neutron irradiation journal January 2015
Phase separation in PM 2000™ Fe-base ODS alloy: Experimental study at the atomic level journal August 2008
Microstructure examination of Fe–14Cr ODS ferritic steels produced through different processing routes journal August 2014
Effect of tube processing methods on microstructure, mechanical properties and irradiation response of 14YWT nanostructured ferritic alloys journal August 2017
Low-activation ferritic and martensitic steels for fusion application journal October 1996
Synergistic effect of helium and hydrogen for defect evolution under multi-ion irradiation of Fe–Cr ferritic alloys journal August 2004
Modelling the diffusion of self-interstitial atom clusters in Fe-Cr alloys journal January 2008
A combined APT and SANS investigation of α′ phase precipitation in neutron-irradiated model FeCrAl alloys journal May 2017
Radiation tolerance of neutron-irradiated model Fe–Cr–Al alloys journal October 2015
On the use of SRIM for computing radiation damage exposure journal September 2013
Heavy-ion irradiations of Fe and Fe–Cr model alloys Part 1: Damage evolution in thin-foils at lower doses journal July 2008
Dislocation loop formation in model FeCrAl alloys after neutron irradiation below 1 dpa journal November 2017
Texture evolution in pure aluminum subjected to monotonous and reversal straining in high-pressure torsion journal May 2009
Neutronic analysis of candidate accident-tolerant cladding concepts in pressurized water reactors journal January 2015
Dislocation loop evolution during in-situ ion irradiation of model FeCrAl alloys journal September 2017
The correlation of the indentation size effect measured with indenters of various shapes journal April 2002
Phase stability of an HT-9 duct irradiated in FFTF journal November 2012
-Loop characterization in α-Fe: comparison between experiments and modeling journal December 2002
Direct observation of the coalescence process between nanoscale dislocation loops with different Burgers vectors journal January 2011
Continuous Stiffness Measurement During Instrumented Indentation Testing journal January 2010
Influences of pileup on the measurement of mechanical properties by load and depth sensing indentation techniques journal April 1998
Cr segregation on dislocation loops enhances hardening in ferritic Fe–Cr alloys journal March 2013
Microstructural stability of Fe–Cr–Al alloys at 450–550 °C journal February 2015
TEM characterization of dislocation loops in irradiated bcc Fe-based steels journal March 2013
On the relationship between uniaxial yield strength and resolved shear stress in polycrystalline materials journal December 2000
Comparison of preparation techniques for nuclear materials for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) journal April 2015
A SANS investigation of the irradiation-enhanced α–α′ phases separation in 7–12 Cr martensitic steels journal February 2003
Modeling the microstructure–mechanical property relationship for a 12Cr–2W–V–Mo–Ni power plant steel journal November 2003
Precipitation of α′ in neutron irradiated commercial FeCrAl alloys journal January 2018
On the α–α′ miscibility gap of Fe–Cr alloys journal December 2008
Effect of the α − γ Phase Transition on the Stability of Dislocation Loops in bcc Iron journal April 2008
Challenges to the use of ion irradiation for emulating reactor irradiation journal April 2015
Effect of tube processing methods on the texture and grain boundary characteristics of 14YWT nanostructured ferritic alloys journal April 2016

Cited By (1)