Stability of the structure and properties of an ultrafine-grained Cr-Ni steel irradiated with neutrons in nuclear reactor core conditions

An ultrafine-grained (UFG) austenite Cr-Ni stainless steel was produced by equal-channel angular pressing. The UFG samples were irradiated in a research nuclear reactor up to damaging doses of 12 and 15 dpa at 350 °C and 450 °C, respectively. The post-irradiation examination featured in this work covers microstructural and mechanical property changes at test temperatures of 20-650 °C. Microstructural studies showed that the concentration of Frank loops was considerably lower in the UFG steel compared to in the coarse-grained material. It was also found that irradiation resulted in precipitation of α-phase in triple junctions of the UFG steel. The post-irradiation examination of mechanical properties testified that the UFG steel exhibited lower irradiation hardening and higher strength compared to the coarse-grained material in the entire testing temperatures range, and improved ductility when tested at 500-650 °C. In summary, we testified that microstructure refinement of an austenite stainless steel down to UFG scale led to enhancement of its resistance to neutron irradiation at elevated temperatures.