Microstructural changes in oxygen-irradiated zirconium-based alloy characterised by X-ray diffraction techniques

Abstract

We have carried out irradiation with 116 MeV O 5+ ions on Zr–1Sn–1Nb–0.1Fe (ZIRLO) alloy at different doses and the microstructural parameters of the irradiated samples have been characterised by X-ray Diffraction Line Profile Analysis (XRDLPA). The average volume-weighted and surface-weighted domain size, microstrain and dislocation density have been estimated as a function of dose. There was a drastic decrease in domain size from unirradiated sample to the sample at a dose of 1 × 10 17 O 5+/m 2, but these values saturated with increasing dose of irradiation. The values of microstrain were found to increase with dose. The dislocation density increased almost by an order of magnitude for the samples irradiated with 1 × 10 18 O 5+/m 2 and 5 × 10 18 O 5+/m 2 as compared to the unirradiated samples.