Effect of irradiation temperature on microstructure, radiation hardening and embrittlement of pure copper and copper-based alloy

Low-temperature radiation embrittlement is one of the main negative consequences of neutron irradiation for pure copper and copper-based alloys. But currently available data on copper radiation hardening and embrittlement have been obtained in the temperature range Tirr = 60–90 °C. Systematic data on the effect of irradiation temperature in the range of radiation hardening and embrittlement (50–200 °C) are lacking. This paper presents the results of the analysis of two experiments on irradiation of pure copper and GlidCop Al25IG alloy in the RBT-6 reactor at irradiation temperatures of 80 °C and 150 °C. The irradiation dose range was 10−3–10−1 dpa. The comparison between the dose dependencies of materials hardening and embrittlement revealed that a rise in temperature causes hardening to drop and embrittlement to decrease. The microstructure data on the density and size of complexes in irradiated materials served as the basis for calculations of the level of radiation hardening, with the Orowan–Seeger model used.