Swelling of austenitic iron-nickelchromium ternary alloys during fast neutron irradiation

Swelling data are now available for 15 iron-nickel-chromium ternary alloys irradiated to exposures as high as 110 displacements per atom (dpa) in Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) between 400 and 6500C. These data confirm trends observed at lower exposure levels and extend the generality of earlier conclusions to cover a broader range of composition and temperature. It appears that all austenitic iron-nickel-chromium ternary alloys eventually approach an intrinsic swelling rate of about1%/dpa over a range of temperature even wider than studied in this experiment. The duration of the transient regime that precedes the attainment of this rate is quite sensitive to nickel and chromium content, however. At nickel and chromium levels typical of 300 series steels, swelling does not saturate at engineering-relevant levels. However, there appears to be a tendency toward saturation that increases with declining temperature, increasing nickel and decreasing chromium levels. Comparisons of these results are made with those of similar studies conducted with charged particles. Conclusions are then drawn concerning the validity of charged particle simulation studies to determine the compositional and temperature dependence of swelling