Swelling behavior of cold worked type 316 stainless steel

Dimensional measurement, immersion density measurement and transmission electron microscopy studies have been carried out on one heat of 10% cold worked Type 316 stainless steel claddings irradiated in DFR to fast neutron fluences up to 7.8 x 1022 n/cm2 (E > 0.1 MeV), two heats of 10% cold worked Type 316 stainless steel claddings and 10 to 50% cold worked Type 316 stainless steel plate-specimens irradiated in Rapsodie to fast-neutron fluences up to 9.6 x 1022 n/cm2 (E > 0.1 MeV). The irradiation induced swelling in Type 316 stainless steel claddings is shown to be strongly dependent upon contents of minor alloying elements such as phosphorus, boron, nitrogen and oxygen. It was observed as irradiation temperature increased that diameter increase, annealing of irradiation hardening and carbide precipitation in 10% cold worked Type 316 stainless steel claddings occurred nearly at the same irradiation temperature. Cold work effectively reduced swelling in Type 316 stainless steel, but the effect was suppressed when polygonization occurred during irradiation