Atom probe study of radiation induced grain boundary segregation/depletion in a Fe-12%Cr alloy

Ferritic steels are important candidate structural materials for future fission and fusion reactors. However, the effect of radiation induced segregation/depletion (RIS/RID) of Cr in grain boundaries and its effect on microstructures and properties are still not clear. Therefore, a systematic approach is shown in this paper, combining electron backscattered diffraction, focused ion beam specimen preparation and atom probe tomography for analysing a single grain boundary in a Fe-12wt%Cr from the point of grain boundary orientation, microchemistry and impurities. Several samples have been prepared from the same grain boundary and consistent 3D reconstruction with quantitative calculation of segregation demonstrates the high reliability and repeatability of this approach. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.