The effect of Xe ion irradiation in 17/13 single-crystalline austenitic stainless steel

The dynamics of the irradiation-induced martensitic transformation in a single crystal of 17/13 austenitic steel has been studied using the RBS channelling technique, conversion electron Moessbauer spectroscopy (CEMS), and glancing incidence X-ray diffraction (GXRD). 300 keV xenon ions were used to induce the martensitic α phase in the austenitic steel. It is shown that in the single-crystalline steel the martensitic phase occurs abruptly and covers almost all, i.e. the region near the surface of the specimen in a very short fluence increase, i.e. from 4x1016 to 5x1016 ions/cm2, which suggest in introduction of a critical transition, in contrast with the fluence dependence in polycrystalline 17/7 steel specimens; in the latter case the induced phase increases gradually to a saturated amount around a fluence of (5-7)x1016 ions/cm2. (orig.)