Effect of nano-oxide particle size on radiation resistance of iron–chromium alloys

Radiation resistance of Fe–14Cr alloys under 200 keV He irradiation at 500 °C was systematically investigated with varying sizes of nano oxide Zr, Hf and Cr particles. It is found that these nano oxide particles acted as effective sites for He bubble formation. By statistically analyzing 700–1500 He bubbles at the depth of about 150–700 nm from a series of HRTEM images for each sample, we established the variation of average He bubble size, He bubble density, and swelling percentage along the depth, and found them to be consistent with the He concentration profile calculated from the SIRM program. Oxide particles with sizes less than 3.5–4 nm are found most effective for enhancing radiation resistance in the studied alloy systems.