Effects of Ar Ion Irradiation on Microstructure of Fe-Cu Alloys at 290oC
ZHU Xiaohui1, LIU Xiangbing2, WANG Runzhong1, LI Yuanfei2, LIU Wenqing1()
1.School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China 2.Suzhou Nuclear Power Research Institute, Suzhou 215004, China
Cite this article:
ZHU Xiaohui, LIU Xiangbing, WANG Runzhong, LI Yuanfei, LIU Wenqing. Effects of Ar Ion Irradiation on Microstructure of Fe-Cu Alloys at 290oC. Acta Metall Sin, 2022, 58(7): 905-910.
Irradiation-enhanced precipitation of Cu clusters is a main factor contributing to the hardening/embrittlement of reactor pressure vessels, and thus, limiting the lifetime of reactors. The Cu clusters are easily formed in ferric alloys under neutron irradiation or ion irradiation, which is used to simulate neutron irradiation. However, the inhibition and even dissolution of Cu clusters in Cu-containing alloys after ion irradiation is also observed in some research. To investigate the reason for ion irradiation-induced dissolution of solute clusters, Fe-1.3%Cu (atomic fraction) alloys were irradiated with Ar ions to the fluence of 4 × 1016 ion/cm2 at 290oC. TEM and atom probe tomography were used to characterize microstructure and solute atom distributions, respectively. Numerous black dot defects and bubbles with average diameters of about 1.3 nm are observed in the irradiated layer. Well-defined Cu-rich clusters are also precipitated in the irradiated layer. The average radius and number density of clusters increase first and then decrease with an increase in distance from the surface. The high displacement damage rate and large cascade size of Ar ions inhibit the irradiation-enhanced diffusion of Cu atoms and bring Cu atoms of the clusters back to matrix, which causes Cu clusters to precipitate weakly near the irradiated surface. With increasing distance from the surface, the Ar ion concentration increases. Ar-vacancy complexes or Ar bubbles form due to the aggregation of Ar ions. Then, the interattraction between Cu atoms and vacancies complexes would enhance the atom diffusion and segregation, which causes an increase in size and number density of the Cu-rich clusters.
Fig.1 Distributions of damage dose and ion concentration (atomic fraction) of Ar ion irradiated Fe-Cu alloys as a function of depth (calculated by SRIM 2008)
Fig.2 TEM images of Ar ions irradiated Fe-Cu alloys (a) two-beam bright field (Inset shows the corresponding SAED pattern) (b) weak beam dark field (c) under-focus mode (500-600 nm)
Fig.3 Cu atom distributions of Ar ions irradiated Fe-Cu alloys as a function of depth (a) 100-200 nm (b) 200-300 nm (c) 300-400 nm (d) 400-500 nm (e) 500-600 nm (f) 600-700 nm (g) 700-800 nm (h) 800-900 nm (i) 900-1000 nm
Fig.4 5-nearest neighbor distributions of Cu atom of Ar ion irradiated Fe-Cu alloys as a function of depth (Solid line shows distribution of Cu atoms in the reconstruction and dot line shows corresponding distribution for theoretical random distribution of Cu atoms. The area filled with black shows the clustered Cu atoms and corresponding proportion indicates the degree of Cu atoms clustering. D-pair—distance of atom pair) (a) 100-200 nm (b) 200-300 nm (c) 300-400 nm (d) 400-500 nm (e) 500-600 nm (f) 600-700 nm (g) 700-800 nm (h) 800-900 nm (i) 900-1000 nm
Depth / nm
Rp / nm
Nv / (1024 m-3)
CCu / %
200-300
0.76
1.11
0.84
500-600
1.07
3.48
0.52
800-900
0.85
1.90
1.02
Table 1 Average radii (Rp) and number densities (Nv) of Cu clusters at different depths and corresponding Cu concentrations in matrix (CCu, atomic fraction)
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