Characterization of irradiation effect on 5251 Al-alloy using rietveld x-ray diffraction analysis

Abstract

This work aims to study irradiation doses (0, 100, 200, 400, 600 and 1000 kGy of Co60 γ-source doses) effect on 5251 Al-alloy samples using XRD analysis. The main structures of the x-ray diffraction patterns are the same, a considerable difference in the peak intensities is observed due to the grain growth associated with increasing of irradiation doses. The intensity ratio of higher reflections declares that nearly 600 kGy irradiation dose is the preferred orientation or threshold point. Microstructure characterization has been studied using x-ray Diffraction Line Profile (XDLP) analysis. Minimum crystallite size of about 0.106 μm is measured for non-irradiated sample, maximum value is observed at 600 kGy. Micro-strain decreases exponentially with increasing irradiation dose, in addition the cell parameter seems to be constant. The dislocation and defect densities reveal the same behavior as the micro-strain. The defect and dislocation density decrease exponentially with increasing of irradiation doses with maximum values of about 1.10 × 1019 cm−3 and 3.15 × 1010 cm−2 respectively obtained for non-irradiation. The variation of the stored dislocation energy due to irradiation doses reveal maximum stored dislocation energy of about 334.95 kJ m−3 for non-irradiated sample, then it is approximately kept constant with increasing of irradiation dose up to 1000 kGy.