Tensile and fracture toughness properties of neutron-irradiated CuCrZr

Physical and Mechanical Properties of Copper and Copper Alloys

“…Neutron-irradiated copper alloys exhibit low uniform elongation after low-dose, low-temperature irradiation. The uniform elongation is recovered to near unirradiated values at 300 C. Figure 10 compiles the yield strength data for PH CuCrZr and DS copper alloys (CuAl 25, CuAl15, MAGT 0.2) as a function of dose for the irradiation temperature of $100 C. 14,71 Both alloys show significant radiation hardening at low doses and an apparent saturation at $0.1 dpa. Irradiation-induced hardening is accompanied by the loss of strain hardening capability and a complete loss of uniform elongation, while the total elongation remains on the level of $10% for doses up to 2.5 dpa for CuCrZr.…”

“…The effect of thermal-mechanical treatment on fracture toughness of CuCrZr is insignificant in comparison with its effect on tensile properties. 14 The minimum value of the J Q for unirradiated CuCrZr is as high as $100 kJ m À2 . The fracture toughness of DS CuAl15 and CuAl25 is significantly lower than that of CuCrZr, and shows a strong directional dependence.…”

“…The strain rate dependence of tensile properties in neutron-irradiated CuCrZr was investigated at room temperature by Li et al 14 The strain rate sensitivity is small at room temperature in unirradiated CuCrZr. The measured strain rate sensitivity parameter, m, is <0.01 for CuCrZr.…”

“…A low density of micron-size Cr particles and grain boundary precipitate-free zones were also observed. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] CuCrZr is susceptible to overaging and recrystallization during prolonged exposure at elevated temperatures. Overaging of CuCrZr causes significant coarsening of grain structure and fine precipitates.…”

“…[43][44][45] The effect of strain rate on tensile properties for pure copper and PH CuCrZr and CuNiBe alloys as well as DS CuAl25 alloy was studied at temperatures of 20 and 300 C. 14,34,46 All three copper alloys are relatively insensitive to strain rate at room temperature. The strain rate sensitivity parameter of m (where s y ¼ Ce_ m and C is a constant) is $0.01 for the CuAl25 alloy at room temperature.…”