Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T07:43:05.898Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

High-Resolution Electron Microscopy Studies of the Precipitation of Copper Under Neutron Irradiation in An Fe-1.3Wt%Cu Alloy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

A. C. Nicol ,
M. L. Jenkins  and
M. A. Kirk
A. C. Nicol
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Rd., Oxford OX1 3PH, UK
M. L. Jenkins
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Rd., Oxford OX1 3PH, UK
M. A. Kirk
Affiliation:
Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, 60439 IL, USA
Get access

Abstract

We have studied by electron microscopy the copper-rich precipitates in an Fe-1.3wt%Cu model alloy irradiated with neutrons to doses of 8.61 × 10−3dpa and 6.3×10−2 dpa at a temperature of-270°C. In the lower dose material a majority (ca. 60%) of the precipitates visible in high-resolution electron microscopy were twinned 9R precipitates of size ∼ 2−4 nm, whilst ca. 40 % were untwinned. In the higher dose material, a majority (ca. 75%) of visible precipitates were untwinned although many still seemed to have a 9R structure. The average angle α between the herring-bone fringes in the twin variants was measured as 1250, not the 1290 characteristic of precipitates in thermally-aged and electron-irradiated material immediately after the bcc-→9R martensitic transformation. We argue that these results imply that the bcc-→9R transformation of small (< 4 nm) precipitates under neutron irradiation takes place at the irradiation temperature of 270°C rather than after subsequent cooling. Preliminary measurements showed that precipitate sizes did not depend strongly on dose, with a mean diameter of 3.4 ± 0.7 nm for the lower dose material, and 3.0 ± 0.5 rim for the higher dose material. This result agrees with the previous assumption that the lack of coarsening in precipitates formed under neutron irradiation is a consequence of the partial dissolution of larger precipitates by high-energy cascades.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 540: Symposium N / Microstructural Processes in Irradiated Materials , 1998 , 409
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Odette, G. R., Scripta Metallurgica, 17, 1183 (1983).Google Scholar
2. Buswell, J. T., Little, E. A., Jones, R. B., andSinclaire, R. N., 2nd Int. Symp. on Environmental Degredation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems 1985.Google Scholar
3. Buswell, J. T., English, C. A., Hetherington, M. G., Pythian, W. J., Smith, G. D. W., andWorral, G. M., Effects of Radiation on Materials: 14th Int. Sypm., ASTM STP 1046 V.11, 127 (1990).Google Scholar
4. English, C. A., Phythian, W. J., Buswell, J. T., Russell, J., Hawthorne, andRay, P. H. N., Effects of Radiation on Materials: 15th Int. Symp. ASTM STP 1125, 93.Google Scholar
5. Hombogen, E., Glenn, R. C., Trans. Met. Soc., AIME, 218, 1064 (1960).Google Scholar
6. Phythian, W. J., Foreman, A. J. E., English, C. A., Buswell, J. T., Hetherington, M., Roberts, K. and Pizzini, S., Effects of Radiation on Materials: 15th Int. Symp. ASTM STP 1125, 131 (1992).Google Scholar
7. Othen, P. J., Jenkins, M. L., Smith, G. D. W., andPhythian, W. J., Phil. Mag. Lett. 64, 383 (1991).Google Scholar
8. Othen, P. J., Jenkins, M. L., andSmith, G. D. W., Phil. Mag. A, 70, 1 (1994).Google Scholar
9. Monzen, R., Jenkins, M.L. and Sutton, A. P., (1999) submitted to Phil. Mag.Google Scholar
10. Hardouin-Duparc, H. A., Doole, R.C., Jenkins, M. L. and Barbu, A., Phil. Mag. Lett. 71, 383 (1991).Google Scholar
11. Akamatsu, M., J. C. Van Duysen, Pareige, P. and Auger, P., Jou. Nuc. Mat., 225, 192 (1995).Google Scholar
12. Edwards, A. B., Roberts, K. J., Pizzini, S. andPhythian, W. J., submitted to Phil. Mag. A.Google Scholar