Proton and Au-ion irradiation induced damage and hardening in ferritic/martensitic steel

Highlights: • F/M steel was irradiated by proton and Au-ion at 400 °C to investigate the irradiation damage and hardening behavior. • The evolution of dislocation loops induced by proton irradiation was investigated. • The distribution of voids induced by Au-ion irradiation was studied. Ferritic/martensitic (F/M) steel was irradiated by proton and Au-ion at 400 °C to investigate the irradiation damage and hardening behavior. For the samples irradiated by proton, dislocation loops and dislocation lines were found in F/M steels and the proton irradiation induced dislocation loops were mostly a₀ 1 0 0 type with a few 1/2a₀ 1 1 1 type. For the samples irradiated by Au-ion, many voids were found in F/M steels and the void size increased with the increasing irradiation depth (0–420 nm). The void density climb up and then decline with the irradiation depth increasing from 0 nm to 450 nm. The damage distribution under proton and Au-ion irradiation were accorded well with the calculation results by SRIM. In addition, hardening effects happened in both proton and Au-ion irradiated F/M steels.