Method to study deformation mechanisms for irradiated steels using a disk-bend test

There is considerable interest in understanding how dislocations interact with defect clusters produced by radiation to evaluate and remedy the radiation induced degradation of mechanical properties. In this paper, it is demonstrated that deformation mechanisms for irradiated materials can be studied with small TEM disks by employing a disk-bend method. Results showed that dominant deformation modes in ion-irradiated austenitic steel were planar glide and microtwinning. It was concluded that the disk-bend method will be a powerful tool in studying deformation microstructures of irradiated materials.