Flow behavior of nickel irradiated with 15 MeV neutrons and 16 MeV protons

Abstract The yield strength of zone refined nickel that was irradiated at 300 K with T(d, n) and Be(d, n) neutrons and 16 MeV protons was found to increase by a similar amount when compared at equal fluence levels. A factor of 2.5 increase in the yield strength was determined for a 15 MeV neutron fluence of 1 × 10 22 m −2 and a 16 MeV proton fluence of 2 × 10 22 m −2 . The strength increase was associated with defect clusters or small prismatic loops and could be described by a strong barrier model for both neutron and proton irradiated nickel. Serrated plastic deformation was observed for samples irradiated with 15 MeV neutrons and 16 MeV protons to fluences higher than 3 × 10 21 m −2 . The similarity in the hardening process of 15 MeV neutron and 16 MeV proton irradiated nickel is consistent with their damage energy cross sections being equal at high primary knock-on energies (> 10 keV).

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