Investigation of growth in post electron irradiated AL-11.8 AT% Zn alloy by small angle neutron scattering

Abstract

The samples of Al-11.8 at % Zn alloy were irradiated with 2 Mev electrons at a flux of 10 4 electrons/cm 2 -s for different periods of time. The small angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments were performed on unirradiated and irradiated samples under identical conditions. The results were obtained in the form of differential scattering cross section, versus momentum transfer vector Q(A 0-1 ). In general, results indicate an initial large drop in the magnitude of peak scattering cross section, increase in the precipitate size and reduction in the number density of the precipitates. More significant changes in these parameters have been noticed as the dose is increased. However, no such changes have been observed in the repeated measurements of post irradiated room temperature aged samples. We thus conclude that the changes induced by irradiation are found to be stable, and the small angle neutron scattering results are reproducible. It is thus concluded that there is an absence of growth in post irradiated room temperature aged Al-Zn Alloy.