Effect of the bake-out regime of copper-based alloys on the recovery of properties and copper/steel joints

摘要

Copper alloys for ITER are characterized by rather strong radiation hardening and embrittlement at low irradiation temperatures of 80-200 degreesC. To reduce this effect it was proposed, with a certain dose attained, to use a special series annealing conditions at temperatures exceeding the operational temperatures. The report presents the results of an investigation into the effect of different annealing conditions, i.e. 300 degreesC - 10 h, 350 degreesC - 10 h and 400 degreesC - 10 h, on the recovery of properties (tensile and electrical conductivity) of copper-based alloys and copper/steel joints irradiated up to doses of 0.4 and 2 dpa at 150 degreesC. The results demonstrated that annealing helps to recover the mechanical properties of GlidCopAl25 IG alloy and joints. By comparison, the electric conductivity of the irradiated samples is only partially recovered. The conclusion is made that the bake-out regime allows for an effective recovery of ductile properties of copper alloys irradiated at low (150 degreesC) temperatures and, to somewhat lesser degree, the copper/steel joints. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. [References: 9]