Abstract
Abstract The defect microstructures of copper and Type 304L austenitic stainless steel (SS) have been examined following neutron irradiation under widely different conditions. Less than 0.2% of the defect clusters in steel irradiated at 120°C with moderated fission neutrons were resolvable as stacking fault tetrahedra (SFT). The fraction of defect clusters identified as SFT in copper varied from ~ 10% for a low-dose 14-MeV neutron irradiation at 25°C to ~ 50% for copper irradiated to 1.3 dpa in a moderated fission spectrum at 182°C. The mean cluster size in copper was about 2.6 nm for both cases, despite the large differences in irradiation conditions. The mean defect cluster size in the irradiated steel was about 1.8 nm. The absence of SFT in stainless steel may be due to the generation of 35 appm He during the irradiation, which caused the vacancies to form helium-filled cavities instead of SFT.
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