Micro-structure and micro-hardness of ODS steels after ion irradiation

The radiation-hardening of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys was examined using ion irradiation and nano-indentation. In this work, three ODS steels were irradiated in the TIARA facility at JAEA with 10.5 MeV Fe(3+) ions up to a dose of 20 dpa at 250 and 380 degrees C. Micro-hardness measurements were carried out on the ion-irradiated specimens with ultra-low load indention. Micro-structures were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to examine the contribution of various types of defects to the radiation-hardening. All three steels showed increases in the hardness after the ion irradiation, and F82H-ODS showed the lowest radiation-hardening, which suggests that F82H-ODS has the better radiation resistance. Small amounts of particle dissolution was also confirmed in all of the steels after the irradiation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.