Microstructural evolution and hardness changes in ion irradiated nickel-based Haynes 282 superalloy

Qinyun Chen; Yan Ru Lin; Pengcheng Zhu; Ryan Thier; Siwei Chen; Zehui Qi; Yajie Zhao; Ling Wang; Naveen Kumar Nagaraja; Sonali Ravikumar; Vijay K. Vasudevan; Steven J. Zinkle

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156006

Microstructural evolution and hardness changes in ion irradiated nickel-based Haynes 282 superalloy

Qinyun Chen
, Yan Ru Lin
, Pengcheng Zhu
, Ryan Thier
, Siwei Chen
, Zehui Qi
, Yajie Zhao
, Ling Wang
, Naveen Kumar Nagaraja
, Sonali Ravikumar
, Vijay K. Vasudevan
, Steven J. Zinkle

Radiation Effects and Microstructural An

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study investigated the crucial aspects of thermal and irradiation stability in precipitation hardened Haynes 282 Ni-based superalloy. The Haynes 282 Ni-based alloy was irradiated by 8 MeV Ni³⁺ ions to assess its resistance to phase instabilities and mechanical property alterations. The mid-range doses (at a depth of ∼1 µm) were 1 and 10 displacements per atom (dpa) at temperatures of 600°C and 750°C. Nanoindentation tests provided insights into bulk equivalent hardness of the irradiated and pristine regions, while scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to examine the microstructural evolution of irradiation-induced defects and γ′−Ni₃(Al,Ti) precipitates and defect structure under irradiation. These precipitates, with an average diameter of 29 nm and a number density of 5×10²¹/m³, acted as robust dispersion strengthening agents with high radiation point defect sink strength. Remarkably, irradiation did not significantly alter the size or number density of the γ′ precipitates, indicating exceptional thermal stability and radiation resistance of these precipitates at the examined conditions. Radiation-induced dislocation loops were observed at 600°C, albeit without a substantial impact on mechanical properties due to the dominance of γ′ precipitates on the overall alloy strength. The superior stability of γ′ precipitates observed in this study contrasts with several previous research findings on Ni-based alloys that reported poor precipitate stability. Plausible reasons for this difference are discussed. Moreover, this work explicitly outlines a physically grounded approach to ensure accurate microstructure-hardness correlations and clarifies the hardening model by addressing common misapplications of superposition in prior studies.

Original language	English
Article number	156006
Journal	Journal of Nuclear Materials
Volume	615
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156006
State	Published - Sep 2025

Funding

This research was sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-NE0008971 and Nuclear Energy University Program NEUP 20-19367 with the University of Cincinnati and University of Tennessee, Dr. Sam Sham (NRC) as the technical program monitor. This research was performed, in part, using instrumentation (FEI Talos F200X STEM) sponsored by the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. We thank Dr. Michael Fahrmann and Haynes International for providing the bulk Haynes 282 alloy materials for this work. This work has been supported by the DOE-NE NEUP program id 20-19367 under award number DE-NE0008971, Technical POC Dr. Sam Sham (NRC) and by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results with full access to the published paper of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( https://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).

Keywords

Mechanical properties
Microstructure
Nickel superalloy
Radiation damage

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10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156006

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@article{e2d534c2efc84726bc47642cf906de62,

title = "Microstructural evolution and hardness changes in ion irradiated nickel-based Haynes 282 superalloy",

abstract = "This study investigated the crucial aspects of thermal and irradiation stability in precipitation hardened Haynes 282 Ni-based superalloy. The Haynes 282 Ni-based alloy was irradiated by 8 MeV Ni3+ ions to assess its resistance to phase instabilities and mechanical property alterations. The mid-range doses (at a depth of ∼1 µm) were 1 and 10 displacements per atom (dpa) at temperatures of 600°C and 750°C. Nanoindentation tests provided insights into bulk equivalent hardness of the irradiated and pristine regions, while scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to examine the microstructural evolution of irradiation-induced defects and γ′−Ni3(Al,Ti) precipitates and defect structure under irradiation. These precipitates, with an average diameter of 29 nm and a number density of 5×1021/m3, acted as robust dispersion strengthening agents with high radiation point defect sink strength. Remarkably, irradiation did not significantly alter the size or number density of the γ′ precipitates, indicating exceptional thermal stability and radiation resistance of these precipitates at the examined conditions. Radiation-induced dislocation loops were observed at 600°C, albeit without a substantial impact on mechanical properties due to the dominance of γ′ precipitates on the overall alloy strength. The superior stability of γ′ precipitates observed in this study contrasts with several previous research findings on Ni-based alloys that reported poor precipitate stability. Plausible reasons for this difference are discussed. Moreover, this work explicitly outlines a physically grounded approach to ensure accurate microstructure-hardness correlations and clarifies the hardening model by addressing common misapplications of superposition in prior studies.",

keywords = "Mechanical properties, Microstructure, Nickel superalloy, Radiation damage",

author = "Qinyun Chen and Lin, \{Yan Ru\} and Pengcheng Zhu and Ryan Thier and Siwei Chen and Zehui Qi and Yajie Zhao and Ling Wang and Nagaraja, \{Naveen Kumar\} and Sonali Ravikumar and Vasudevan, \{Vijay K.\} and Zinkle, \{Steven J.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 Elsevier B.V.",

year = "2025",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156006",

language = "English",

volume = "615",

journal = "Journal of Nuclear Materials",

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T1 - Microstructural evolution and hardness changes in ion irradiated nickel-based Haynes 282 superalloy

AU - Chen, Qinyun

AU - Lin, Yan Ru

AU - Zhu, Pengcheng

AU - Thier, Ryan

AU - Chen, Siwei

AU - Qi, Zehui

AU - Zhao, Yajie

AU - Wang, Ling

AU - Nagaraja, Naveen Kumar

AU - Ravikumar, Sonali

AU - Vasudevan, Vijay K.

AU - Zinkle, Steven J.

PY - 2025/9

Y1 - 2025/9

N2 - This study investigated the crucial aspects of thermal and irradiation stability in precipitation hardened Haynes 282 Ni-based superalloy. The Haynes 282 Ni-based alloy was irradiated by 8 MeV Ni3+ ions to assess its resistance to phase instabilities and mechanical property alterations. The mid-range doses (at a depth of ∼1 µm) were 1 and 10 displacements per atom (dpa) at temperatures of 600°C and 750°C. Nanoindentation tests provided insights into bulk equivalent hardness of the irradiated and pristine regions, while scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to examine the microstructural evolution of irradiation-induced defects and γ′−Ni3(Al,Ti) precipitates and defect structure under irradiation. These precipitates, with an average diameter of 29 nm and a number density of 5×1021/m3, acted as robust dispersion strengthening agents with high radiation point defect sink strength. Remarkably, irradiation did not significantly alter the size or number density of the γ′ precipitates, indicating exceptional thermal stability and radiation resistance of these precipitates at the examined conditions. Radiation-induced dislocation loops were observed at 600°C, albeit without a substantial impact on mechanical properties due to the dominance of γ′ precipitates on the overall alloy strength. The superior stability of γ′ precipitates observed in this study contrasts with several previous research findings on Ni-based alloys that reported poor precipitate stability. Plausible reasons for this difference are discussed. Moreover, this work explicitly outlines a physically grounded approach to ensure accurate microstructure-hardness correlations and clarifies the hardening model by addressing common misapplications of superposition in prior studies.

AB - This study investigated the crucial aspects of thermal and irradiation stability in precipitation hardened Haynes 282 Ni-based superalloy. The Haynes 282 Ni-based alloy was irradiated by 8 MeV Ni3+ ions to assess its resistance to phase instabilities and mechanical property alterations. The mid-range doses (at a depth of ∼1 µm) were 1 and 10 displacements per atom (dpa) at temperatures of 600°C and 750°C. Nanoindentation tests provided insights into bulk equivalent hardness of the irradiated and pristine regions, while scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to examine the microstructural evolution of irradiation-induced defects and γ′−Ni3(Al,Ti) precipitates and defect structure under irradiation. These precipitates, with an average diameter of 29 nm and a number density of 5×1021/m3, acted as robust dispersion strengthening agents with high radiation point defect sink strength. Remarkably, irradiation did not significantly alter the size or number density of the γ′ precipitates, indicating exceptional thermal stability and radiation resistance of these precipitates at the examined conditions. Radiation-induced dislocation loops were observed at 600°C, albeit without a substantial impact on mechanical properties due to the dominance of γ′ precipitates on the overall alloy strength. The superior stability of γ′ precipitates observed in this study contrasts with several previous research findings on Ni-based alloys that reported poor precipitate stability. Plausible reasons for this difference are discussed. Moreover, this work explicitly outlines a physically grounded approach to ensure accurate microstructure-hardness correlations and clarifies the hardening model by addressing common misapplications of superposition in prior studies.

KW - Mechanical properties

KW - Microstructure

KW - Nickel superalloy

KW - Radiation damage

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105009337030

U2 - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156006

DO - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156006

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105009337030

SN - 0022-3115

VL - 615

JO - Journal of Nuclear Materials

JF - Journal of Nuclear Materials

M1 - 156006

ER -

Microstructural evolution and hardness changes in ion irradiated nickel-based Haynes 282 superalloy

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