Concurrent annealing of vacancy-type and interstitial-type damage in neutron irradiated stainless steel

摘要

Analysis of the effect of annealing on change in void and loop size distributions provided insights that complement microstructural characterization using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The predictions of concurrent vacancy-type and interstitial-type damage annealing &e applied to measurements in neutron-irradiated austenitic stainless steels. Irradiation at 330°C produces void and loop microstructures for which the measured annealing response is in accord with predictions. Irradiation at 275°C produces only Frank loop microstructure for which the annealing response cannot be predicted from measured microstructures. The model predictions are based on an assumed vacancy source not detected using TEM. The measured loop microstructure is typically reported to be interstitial in character but this analysis suggests that a significant component of the loop population is vacancy-type damage based on defect inventory and kinetic arguments.