Deformation localisation in ion-irradiated Fe and Fe10Cr

Ferritic/martensitic steels are leading candidates for structural components of next-generation nuclear reactors.  Understanding of their deformation behaviours, particularly how that is affected by irradiation damage, is key to their use.

In this work*, researchers from this department, the Departments of Engineering at Oxford, Mechanical Engineering in Bristol, and Physics in Helsinki, and the X-ray Division at Argonne National Laboratory, and the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, examined the effect of ion-irradiation, as a surrogate for fusion neutrons, on the deformation field around nanoindents in pure iron and with the addition of 10% chromium.

They found that the spatial extent of the deformation fields in the irradiated materials were much more confined when compared to the unirradiated materials - and that the addition of chromium did not significantly affect it.  The confinement of deformation led to embrittlement of the materials, the results of which demonstrate that the presence of chromium is not enough of a mitigating factor, even at low irradiation doses.

*Journal of Nuclear Materials: 'Deformation localisation in ion-irradiated Fe and Fe10Cr'.