High Dose Radiation Effects in Steels

Materials aging at the mesoscale: Kinetics of thermal, stress, radiation activations

“…Recently the role of self-interstitial atom clusters and their one-dimensional mobility, as well as a production bias of isolated vacancies vs. interstitials and their clusters, has been clarified in the problem of irradiation defect growth. Simulations show the metastability of small-vacancy clusters, up to about 52 vacancies, whereas ion beam irradiation experiments give very different results [23] [24]. The role of point-defect cluster evolution in space and time varying local environments again examplifies the emphasis on self-organized defects in MSS.…”

“…Dimensional distortions of structural nuclear materials affect the safety of existing nuclear systems as well as the future reliability of nuclear power. Because of its direct industrial relevance for over five decades, a great deal is known about radiation damage phenomena in metals, particularly alloys with FCC and BCC structures [23]. Recent reviews of the theory of radiation damage [23][59] along with extensive data and interpretation [23] indicate this provides an opportunity for research into the mechanisms of time-dependent microstructure evolution in the presence of irradiation effects.…”

“…Because of its direct industrial relevance for over five decades, a great deal is known about radiation damage phenomena in metals, particularly alloys with FCC and BCC structures [23]. Recent reviews of the theory of radiation damage [23][59] along with extensive data and interpretation [23] indicate this provides an opportunity for research into the mechanisms of time-dependent microstructure evolution in the presence of irradiation effects. Even though microscale [18][24] [59] and macroscale [36] descriptions of void swelling exist, it is still not feasible to predict a priori the sudden onset of void swelling as functions of imposed state variables.…”