Effect of Chromium Content on Mechanical Properties and Microstructural Evolution of Ion-Irradiated Fe-Cr Model Alloys

Fe-Cr alloy of a ferritic martensitic microstrucuture is one of the candidate structural materials for fusion reactor steels. It is well known that Fe-Cr alloys have a high resistance to a swelling and an excellent resistance to a helium embrittlement and to irradiation creep. But it has a severe problem about low temperature irradiation-induced embrittlement below 673K. The mechanical behavior of an irradiated material is mostly affected by the formation of irradiation induced defects called black dots, a dislocation loop and a void in the matrix. The main objective of this present study is to investigate the effect of chromium content on the irradiated hardening behavior of a polycrystalline Fe-Cr alloy. We measured a hardness change with a Nano indenter for irradiated Fe-Cr alloys and analyzed the size and fraction of the irradiation induced defects with a transmission electron microscopy