The dynamic evolution of swelling in nickel concentrated solid solution alloys through in situ property monitoring

Abstract

While the high-temperature void swelling behavior in Ni-based concentrated solid solution alloys (CSAs) has received much attention, work to date has relied on traditional, post-irradiation microscopy to quantify swelling. Here, the dynamic evolution of swelling in five alloys of increasing complexity is observed using continuous, in situ measurements of thermoelastic properties in bulk specimens under ion beam irradiation. The evolution in elastic properties during swelling is found to be a function of the entire size spectrum of defects, not solely the mesoscale voids observed using microscopy, while changes in thermal transport properties depend sensitively on the partitioning of electronic and lattice thermal conductivity. This emerging class of in situ experiments provides unique insight into material dynamics otherwise unavailable using traditional methods.