Effect of post-weld heat treatment and neutron irradiation on a dissimilar-metal joint between F82H steel and 316L stainless steel

Highlights: • Significant hardening after neutron irradiation at 300 °C for 0.1 dpa was found in the fine-grain HAZ of F82H for the dissimilar-metal joint between F82H and 316L. • The possible hardening mechanism was explained from the viewpoint of carbon behavior. • However, the significant hardening did not degrade the impact property significantly. - Abstract: A dissimilar-metal joint between F82H steel and 316L stainless steel was fabricated by using electron beam welding (EBW). By microstructural analysis and hardness test, the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of F82H was classified into interlayer area, fine-grain area, and coarse-carbide area. Post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) was applied to control the hardness of HAZ. After PWHT at 680 °C for 1 h, neutron irradiation at 300 °C with a dose of 0.1 dpa was carried out for the joint in Belgian Reactor II (BR-II). Compared to the base metals (BMs) and weld metal (WM), significant irradiation hardening up to 450HV was found in the fine-grain HAZ of F82H. However, the impact property of F82H-HAZ specimens, which was machined with the root of the V-notch at HAZ of F82H, was not deteriorated obviously in spite of the significant irradiation hardening.