Bulk Nanostructured FCC Steels With Enhanced …

1 Project No. 09-814 Bulk Nanostructured FCC Steels with Enhanced radiation ToleranceFl Cl R&DFuel Cycle R&DDr. Xinghang ZhangTe xa s A&M UniversityIn collaboration with :Uiif WiiMdiUniversity of Wisconsin MadisonTe xa s A&M UniversityUniversity of FloridaLos Alamos National LaboratoryArgonne National LaboratoryStu Maloy, Technical POCSue Lesica, Federal POCA nnual Progress Report October 27, 2012 DE-AC07-05ID14517 1 FINAL PROGRESS REPORT Project title: Bulk Nanostructured austenitic stainless Steels with Enhanced radiation tolerance Covering period: Oct.

2 1, 2009 through Sep. 30, 2012 Date of Report: October 27, 2012 Recipient: Texas Engineering Experiment Station Address: Texas Engineering Experiment Station TEES Research Services 006 WERC, Mail Stop 3406 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3406 Tel: 979-845-1264 Fax: 979-845-9643 URL: Award Number: DE-AC07-05ID14517 Project Number (Subcontract no.): 00088120 Subcontractors: University of Wisconsin, Madison; University of Florida Other Partners: Dr. Stuart Maloy, Email: Los Alamos National Laboratory Contact(s): Principal Investigator: Xinghang Zhang, 979-845-2143 (O), Co-PI: K.

3 Ted Hartwig, 979-845-1585 (O), Co-PI: Todd Allen, 608-265-4083 (O), Co-PI: Yong Yang, 352-846-3791 (O) Annual Progress Report October 27, 2012 DE-AC07-05ID14517 2 1. Project Objective The objective of this project is to increase radiation tolerance in austenitic Steels through optimization of grain size and grain boundary (GB) characteristics. The focus will be on nanocrystalline austenitic Fe-Cr-Ni alloys with an fcc crystal structure. The long-term goal is to design and develop bulk Nanostructured austenitic Steels with Enhanced void swelling resistance and substantial ductility, and to enhance their creep resistance at elevated temperatures via GB engineering.

4 The combination of grain refinement and grain boundary engineering approaches allows us to tailor the material strength, ductility, and resistance to swelling by 1) changing the sink strength for point defects, 2) by increasing the nucleation barriers for bubble formation at GBs, and 3) by changing the precipitate distributions at boundaries. Compared to ferritic/martensitic Steels , austenitic stainless Steels (SS) possess good creep and fatigue resistance at elevated temperatures, and better toughness at low temperature.

5 However, a major disadvantage of austenitic SS is that they are vulnerable to significant void swelling in nuclear reactors, especially at the temperatures and doses anticipated in the Advanced Burner Reactor. The lack of resistance to void swelling in austenitic alloys led to the switch to ferritic/martensitic Steels as the preferred material for the fast reactor cladding application. Recently a type of austenitic stainless steel , HT-UPS, was developed at ORNL, and is expected to show Enhanced void swelling resistance through the trapping of point defects at nanometer-sized carbides.

6 Reducing the grain size and increasing the fraction of low energy grain boundaries should reduce the available radiation -produced point defects (due to the increased sink area of the grain boundaries), should make bubble nucleation at the boundaries less likely (by reducing the fraction of high-energy boundaries), and improve the strength and ductility under radiation by producing a higher density of nanometer sized carbides on the boundaries. This project will focus on void swelling but advances in processing of austenitic Steels are likely to also improve the radiation response of the mechanical properties.

7 2. Brief summary of major accomplishment - milestones This is a very fruitful project. In collaboration with Dr. Jinsung Jang (KAERI, South Korea), we have made the following major progress. Annual Progress Report October 27, 2012 DE-AC07-05ID14517 3 (1) We examined the deformation mechanisms in ECAPed Fe-14Cr-16Ni alloys. The average grain size has been refined from 700 microns down to ~ 400 nanometers. The yield strength of ECAP alloys is 5-6 times greater than coarse-grained alloys, and the ductility remain very high, ~ 15% uniform elongation.

8 What is more, these ultra fine grained alloys retain strong work hardening capacity. This is rare as most ECAPed alloys have very little work hardening capability. The strain rate sensitivity of the alloys is lower than bulk alloys. (2) Ex situ isothermal annealing experiments showed the fine microstructure was thermally stable up to 673 K, and abnormal grain growth occurred at ~ 873 K. In situ annealing studies in a transmission electron microscope revealed the coarsening of grains. Analysis of grain growth kinetics from 873 to 1073 K yielded activation energy of grain growth to be ~ 207 kJ/mol.

9 The grain growth mechanisms and annealing induced evolution of mechanical properties were discussed. (3) He ion irradiation resistance of ultra fine grained Fe-14Cr-16Ni alloys. At a peak fluence level of displacement per atom (dpa), helium bubbles, nm in diameter, were observed in both coarse-grained (CG) and ultrafine grained (UFG) alloy. The density of He bubbles, dislocation loops, as well as radiation hardening were significantly reduced in the UFG Fe-Cr-Ni alloy comparing to those in its CG counterpart.

10 The results imply that radiation tolerance in bulk metals can be effectively Enhanced by refinement of microstructures. (4) Significant microstructural damage, in the form of defect clusters, typically occurs in metals subjected to heavy ion irradiation. High angle grain boundaries have long been postulated as sinks for defect clusters, such as dislocation loops. Here we provide direct evidence, via in situ Kr ion irradiation under a transmission electron microscope, that high angle grain boundaries in nanocrystalline Ni, with an average grain size of ~ 55 nm, can effectively absorb radiation induced dislocation loops.