Void swelling and microstructure evolution at very high damage level in self-ion irradiated ferritic-martensitic steels

The void swelling and microstructure evolution of ferritic-martensitic alloys HT9, T91 and T92 were characterized following irradiation with Fe++ ions at 460 °C to damage levels of 75-650 displacements per atom with 10 atom parts per million pre-implanted helium. Steady state swelling rate of 0.033%/ dpa was determined for HT9, the least swelling resistant alloy, and 0.007%/ dpa in T91. In T91, resistance was due to suppression of void nucleation. Swelling resistance was greatest in T92, with a low density (∼1 × 1020 m−3) of small voids that had not grown appreciably, indicating suppression of nucleation and growth. Additional heats of T91 indicated that alloy composition was not the determining factor of swelling resistance. Carbon and chromium-rich M2X precipitates formed at 250 dpa and were correlated with decreased nucleation in T91 and T92, but did not affect void growth in HT9. Dislocation and G-phase microstructure evolution was analyzed up to 650 dpa in HT9.