Low-temperature structural instability of 12 % Cr ferritic–martensitic steel irradiated to 53 dpa in the BN-350 fast reactor
Tsay K.V. Merezhko D.A. Kim Y.R. Merezhko M.S.
May 2025Elsevier B.V.
Materialia
2025#40
The EP-450 duplex ferritic/martensitic steel (material of an fuel assemblies’ wrapper) was found to suffer from radiation-induced recovery and recrystallization during long-term irradiation (to 53 dpa) with neutrons in the BN-350 reactor at a much lower temperature (410 °C) than tempering ones. This resulted in the structural instability of the phase composition of the steel, involving a decrease in the tempered martensite fraction and the growth of ferritic grains. The microstructure of irradiated steel showed coarsening martensitic laths and the growth of sub-grains, as well as the appearance of coarse ferrite grains with quasi-equilibrium Y-junctions. The driving force of the processes of recovery and recrystallization was the more stressed and defective condition of the TM. Structural rearrangement in steel was performed due to a mass migration of sub-boundaries and sub-grain coalescence, which might be facilitated under irradiation by the presence of fluxes of point defects and a high mobility of dislocations.
Ferritic-martensitic steels , Grain boundaries , Recovery , Recrystallization
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Laboratory of Radiation Material Science, Institute of Nuclear Physics, Ibragimov, 1, Almaty, 050032, Kazakhstan
Satbayev University, Almaty, 050013, Kazakhstan
Laboratory of Radiation Material Science
Satbayev University
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
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