Irradiation hardening and ductility loss of a low-activation 9Cr-1V ferritic steel at low temperatures

Abstract The irradiation hardening and ductility loss were investigated for a low-activation 9Cr-1V steel using tensile testing between 77 and 473 K. The neutron irradiation was performed at 573 K to a fluence of 8.5 × 1022n/m2 (E > 0.1 MeV). The nature of the irradiation-produced defect clusters responsible for the observed irradiation hardening was believed to be small dislocation loops and the results are modeled based on loop hardening. The ductility loss was correlated with the reduction of the work hardening rate.

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