Comparison of magnetic properties of austenitic stainless steel after ion irradiation

Specimens of austenitic stainless steel (ASS) were irradiated with H, Fe and Xe ions at room temperature. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) were used to analyze the magnetic properties and martensite formation. The magnetic hysteresis loops indicated that higher irradiation damage causes more significant magnetization phenomenon. Under the same damage level, Xe irradiation causes the most significant magnetization, Fe irradiation is the second, and H irradiation is the least. A similar martensite amount variation with irradiation can be obtained. The coercivity Hc increases first to 2 dpa and then decreases continuously with irradiation damage for Xe irradiation. At the same damage lever, H irradiation causes a largest Hc and Xe irradiation causes a minimal one.