The influence of nitrogen and nitrides on the structure and properties of proton irradiated ferritic/martensitic steel

Rietema, Connor James; Chancey, Matthew Ryan; Ullrich, S. K.; Finfrock, C. B.; Marshall, D. V.; Eftink, Benjamin P.; Wang, Yongqiang Q.; Bourne, G. R.; Maloy, Stuart Andrew; Clarke, A. J.; Clarke, K. D.

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.153528

Title: The influence of nitrogen and nitrides on the structure and properties of proton irradiated ferritic/martensitic steel

Journal Article · 10 January 2022 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.153528 · OSTI ID:1841949

^[1];

^[2]; Ullrich, S. K. ^[3]; Finfrock, C. B. ^[3]; Marshall, D. V. ^[3];

^[2];

^[2]; Bourne, G. R. ^[3];

^[2]; Clarke, A. J. ^[3]; Clarke, K. D.

Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)

The 12Cr1MoWV (wt%) ferritic/martensitic steel HT9 is a candidate material for fuel cladding in advanced nuclear reactors, such as the Versatile Test Reactor currently under development. As such, understanding the relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties in the context of irradiation environments for these steels is critical. N content, and more specifically interstitial N, has been hypothesized to be detrimental to irradiated properties at lower temperatures (less than 0.3T_m) to a total of 6 dpa; however, in this work at a dose of 1 dpa the irradiated microstructure was improved with added N, leading to less irradiation hardening. Three variants of HT9 were irradiated with 1.5 MeV protons to a dose of 1 dpa at 300°C. The HT9 variants included Low (10 ppm), Mid (190 ppm), and High (440 ppm) N alloys that were otherwise nearly identical. Changing the N content had a variety of effects on the irradiated defect structures. As N content increased, the average dislocation loop diameter decreased, while the number density of loops increased. Additionally, extensive Ni clustering was observed on dislocations and interfaces. The Mid and High N specimens exhibited significantly less hardening (ΔHV≃100) relative to the Low N specimen (ΔHV≃160). The decrease in hardening is attributed to vanadium carbonitride acting as a sink for Ni clusters that would otherwise form on dislocations. Under the irradiation conditions used, these results suggest increasing the N content in HT9 may have a desirable effect on the irradiated structure and properties at the dose studied, as well as the swelling resistance at higher doses. In other words, N content appears to be a powerful tool for tailoring the self-interstitial atom cluster mobility in F/M steels for different temperature and dose applications.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001; AC52-07NA27344; NE0008684

OSTI ID:: 1841949

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-21-27070; LLNL-JRNL-830896

Journal Information:: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 561; ISSN 0022-3115

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: The influence of nitrogen and nitrides on the structure and properties of proton irradiated ferritic/martensitic steel

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