Abstract
A latest-generation aberration-corrected scanning/transmission electron microscope (STEM) is used to study heavy-ion-irradiated nanostructured ferritic alloys (NFAs). Results are presented for STEM X-ray mapping of NFA 14YWT irradiated with 10 MeV Pt to 16 or 160 dpa at -100 C and 750 C, as well as pre-irradiation reference material. Irradiation at -100 C results in ballistic destruction of the beneficial microstructural features present in the pre-irradiated reference material, such as Ti-Y-O nanoclusters (NCs) and grain boundary (GB) segregation. Irradiation at 750 C retains these beneficial features, but indicates some coarsening of the NCs, diffusion of Al to the NCs, and a reduction of the Cr-W GB segregation (or solute excess) content. Ion irradiation combined with the latest-generation STEM hardware allows for rapid screening of fusion candidate materials and improved understanding of irradiation-induced microstructural changes in NFAs.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 251-260 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
Volume | 445 |
Issue number | 1-3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2014 |
Funding
Research supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, and through a user project supported by ORNL’s Shared Research Equipment (ShaRE) User Program, which is also sponsored by DOE-BES. Ion irradiations performed using the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a national scientific user facility, which is sponsored at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research, US DOE. We acknowledge the use of the Analytical Instrumentation Facility (AIF) at North Carolina State University, which is supported by the State of North Carolina and the National Science Foundation. Thanks to Dr. Y. Zhang for performing the ion irradiations and to Drs. D.A. Cullen and K.G. Field, ORNL, for critiquing the manuscript. Thanks to Dr. R.E. Stoller, ORNL, for help implementing the method of Ref. [25] .