Slow positron beam and nanoindentation study of irradiation-related defects in reactor vessel steels

In order to understand the nature of the hardening after radiation in reactor vessel steels, China A508-3 steels were implanted by proton with an energy of 240 keV up to 2.5 × 1016, 5.5 × 1016, 1.1 × 1017, and 2.5 × 1017 ions cm−2, respectively. Vacancy type defects were detected by energy-variable positron beam Doppler broadening technique and then nanoindentation measurements were performed to investigate proton-induced hardening effects. The results showed that S-parameter increased as a function of positron incident energy after irradiation, and the increasing rate of the S-parameter near the surface was larger than that in the bulk due to radiation damage. The size of vacancy type defects increased with dose. Irradiation induced hardening was shown that the average hardness increased with dose. Moreover a direct correlation between positron annihilation parameter and hardness was found based on Kasada method.