Irradiation creep of candidate materials for advanced nuclear plants

In the present paper, irradiation creep results of an intermetallic TiAl alloy and two ferritic oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels are summarized. In situ irradiation creep measurements were performed using homogeneous implantation with α- and p-particles to maximum doses of 0.8 dpa at displacement damage rates of 2–8 × 10−6 dpa/s. The strains of miniaturized flat dog-bone specimens were monitored under uniaxial tensile stresses ranging from 20 to 400 MPa at temperatures of 573, 673 and 773 K, respectively. The effects of material composition, ODS particle size, and bombarding particle on the irradiation creep compliance was studied and results are compared to literature data. Evolution of microstructure during helium implantation was investigated in detail by TEM and is discussed with respect to irradiation creep models.