Abstract
The synergistic effect of neutron irradiation and transmutant helium production is an important concern for the application of iron-based alloys as structural materials in fission and fusion reactors. In this study, we investigated the impact of neutron irradiation on thermal helium desorption behavior in high purity iron. Single crystalline and polycrystalline iron samples were neutron irradiated in HFIR to 5 dpa at 300 °C and in BOR-60 to 16.6 dpa at 386 °C, respectively. Following neutron irradiation, 10 keV He ion implantation was performed at room temperature on both samples to a fluence of 7 × 1018 He/m2. Thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS) was conducted to assess the helium diffusion and clustering kinetics by analyzing the desorption spectra. The comparison of He desorption spectra between unirradiated and neutron irradiated samples showed that the major He desorption peaks shift to higher temperatures for the neutron-irradiated iron samples, implying that strong trapping sites for He were produced during neutron irradiation, which appeared to be nm-sized cavities through TEM examination. The underlying mechanisms controlling the helium trapping and desorption behavior were deduced by assessing changes in the microstructure, as characterized by TEM, of the neutron irradiated samples before and after TDS measurements.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.