Study on the mechanical properties evolution of A508-3 steel under proton irradiation

In an effort to study the effect of irradiation on the hardening behavior of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel, nanoindentation was employed to investigate the mechanical properties of A508-3 steel after an irradiation with 190 keV proton to the dose range of 0.054-0.271 displacement per atom (dpa) at room temperature. The results show that the relationship between the nanohardness and indent depth is in accordance with the Nix-Gao model. The nanohardness of A508-3 steel increases notably with the dose. In addition, the contribution of the irradiation-induced microstructural defects including matrix damage and nano clusters to the irradiation hardening is discussed.