Cr precipitation in neutron irradiated industrial purity Fe–Cr model alloys

V. Kuksenko (1) , Cristelle Pareige (1) , Philippe Pareige (1)

1 GPM - Groupe de physique des matériaux

The microstructure of four neutron irradiated Fe-Cr model alloys of industrial purity (Fe-2.5%Cr, Fe-5%Cr, Fe-9%Cr and Fe-12%Cr) has been characterized by atom probe tomography (APT). Irradiation has been performed at 300 degrees C up to 0.6 dpa in MTR reactor. APT investigations confirmed the enhanced precipitation of alpha' clusters as these clusters have only been observed in supersaturated model alloys. In addition a nonexpected family of clusters has been revealed due to irradiation induced segregation of impurities: NiSiPCr-enriched clusters. They might be associated to defect clusters invisible by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A quantitative description of these objects is presented in this paper and results are compared with TEM and SANS data of the literature obtained on the same model alloy.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Condensed Matter [cond-mat]; Materials Science [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

V. Kuksenko, Cristelle Pareige, Philippe Pareige. Cr precipitation in neutron irradiated industrial purity Fe–Cr model alloys. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2013, 432 (1-3), pp.160-165. ⟨10.1016/j.jnucmat.2012.07.021⟩. ⟨hal-02107314⟩