Effects of irradiation induced Cu clustering on Vickers hardness and electrical resistivity of Fe–Cu model alloys

Three kinds of Fe-based model alloys, Fe–0.018 atomic percent (at.%) Cu, Fe–0.53at.%Cu, and Fe–1.06at.%Cu were irradiated with 2 MeV electrons up to the dose of 2 × 10−5 dpa at 250 °C. After the irradiation, the increase in Vickers hardness and the decrease in electrical resistivity were observed. The increase in hardness by electron irradiation is proportional to the product of the Cu contents and the square root of the electron dose. The decrease in electrical resistivity is proportional to the product of the square of Cu contents and the electron dose.Cu clustering in the materials with electron irradiation and thermal aging was observed by means of the Atom Probe Tomography (APT). The change in Vickers hardness and electrical resistivity is well correlated with micro-structure evolution related to the Cu clustering process. The irradiation hardening was proportional to the square root of volume fraction of the Cu clusters from early stage of irradiation.