Abstract
Abstract Tensile tests were performed on aluminium foils of 0.1 mm thickness that had been irradiated in the PIREX facility in the cyclotron of the Swiss Nuclear Research Institute (SIN) at doses between 0.9 to 5 dpa. Helium is produced at a measured rate of 230 appm/dpa simultaneously with the displacement damage. The post irradiation tests were performed in the range from 190 to 470 K. An increase of a factor four in the flow stress is found in the irradiated material at a dose 4.1 dpa at 190 K. The increase in flow stress is found to be proportional to the square root of the dose at all test temperatures. This increase has no clear correlation with bubble structure observed by TEM (either with bubble size or number density). These measurements, together with those of activation volume and TEM in-situ deformation, indicate that the main obstacle to dislocation glide is the presence of a dispersion of small ( ~ 1 nm diameter) clusters of impurities produced by spallation reactions during the irradiation. A modified Fleischer hardening model is used to describe the results. Good agreement with experimental data is found for a dislocation escape of 140°, which corresponds to the angle measured during the TEM in-situ deformations.
Published Version
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