Abstract

An austenitic stainless steel weld was thermally aged at 400 °C for 20,000 h, and subsequently proton irradiated up to 10 displacement per atom (dpa) at 360 °C. After thermal ageing, only spinodal decomposition was observed without G-phase precipitates in δ-ferrite. However, ~ 1023 m−3 of fine (~ 3 nm in diameter) G-phase precipitates were observed after proton irradiation. Also, wavelength of spinodal decomposition was increased with proton irradiation. The additional hardening in δ-ferrite after proton irradiation was attributed to enhanced spinodal decomposition and G-phase precipitation. After irradiation, the contribution to addition hardening was greater for G-phase than enhanced spinodal decomposition.

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