Study of the Mechanisms for the Irradiation Embrittlement of Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

摘要

Irradiation damage particles were detected by small angle neutron scattering and positron annihilation techniques in two RPV steels. The particle radii were 8A and 14A prior to heat treatments for the plate and weldment, respectively; annealing leads to coarsening in the weldment, the volume fraction remains essentially constant at about 0.14%. The model of copper-rich precipitates diluted by Mn atoms or, alternatively, by vacancy agglomerates is consistent with the neutron scattering data, the presence of simple voids in the weldment would contradict the positron results. Preliminary results on these steels and also on related alloys by methods new in this field are reported. (ERA citation 12:039191)