Effects of irradiation with pulse plasma flows on mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steels Kh16N15M3B and Kh18N10T

Effects of pulse fluxes of hydrogen, helium and hydrohelium plasma with the power density of 2 3 MW/cm2 on the mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steels Kh16N15M3B and Kh18N10T are investigated. Plasmoids with 2μs temporal extent and ∼ 2 keV mean energy of particles are used. Tensile tests have shown that irradiation up to ∼1018 cm-2 doses leads to specimen strengthening by 1.8 times and to the worsening of their plastic properties by 2.3-2.7 times. Layer-by-layer electron microscopic analysis has shown that as a result of irradiation in the near-surface steel layers the cell structure expanding up to ∼ 25 μm depths occurs. The cell structure occurrence permits to explain the change in their mechanical characteristics. 12 refs.; 6 figs.; 2 tabs