The Effect of Black-Dot Defects on FeCrAl Radiation Hardening
Jian Sun,
Miaosen Yu,
Zhixian Wei,
Hui Dai,
Wenxue Ma,
Yibin Dong,
Yong Liu,
Ning Gao,
Xuelin Wang
Affiliations
Jian Sun
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Miaosen Yu
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Zhixian Wei
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Hui Dai
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Wenxue Ma
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Yibin Dong
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Yong Liu
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Ning Gao
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Xuelin Wang
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
FeCrAl is regarded as one of the most promising cladding materials for accident-tolerant fuel at nuclear fission reactors due to its comprehensive properties of inherent corrosion resistance, excellent irradiation resistance, high-temperature oxidation resistance, and stress corrosion cracking resistance. In this work, the irradiation response of FeCrAl irradiated by 2.4 MeV He2+ ions with a fluence of 1.1 × 1016 cm−2 at room temperature was studied using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and nanoindentation. The characterization results of structural and mechanical properties showed that only black-dot defects exist in irradiated FeCrAl samples, and that the hardness of the irradiated samples was 11.5% higher than that of the unirradiated samples. Similar to other types of radiation defects, black-dot defects acted as fixed defect obstacles and hindered the movement of slip dislocations moving under the applied load, resulting in a significant increase in the hardness of FeCrAl. Importantly, this work points out that irradiation-induced black-dot defects can significantly affect the mechanical properties of materials, and that their contribution to radiation hardening cannot be ignored.
