Irradiation effects on precipitation in reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels

Abstract

It was previously reported that reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels (RAFs), such as F82H-IEA and its heat treatment variant, ORNL9Cr-2WVTa, JLF-1 and 2%Ni-doped F82H, show a variety of changes in ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) and yield stress after irradiation at 573 K up to 5 dpa. These differences could not be interpreted as an effect of irradiation hardening caused by dislocation loop formation. In this paper, the effects of irradiation on precipitation of RAFs were investigated to determine how these effects might affect the mechanical properties. The precipitation behavior of the irradiated steels was examined by weight analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis and chemical analysis on extraction residues. These analyses suggested that irradiation caused (1) an increase of the amount of precipitates (mainly M23C6), (2) an increase of Cr and decrease of W contained in precipitates, and (3) the disappearance of MX (TaC) in ORNL9Cr and JLF-1. ©2005 The Japan Institute of Metals.