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Metals
Special Issues
Radiation Damage in Metals and Alloys
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Radiation Damage in Metals and Alloys

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Metal Failure Analysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 6129

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Enrique Jimenez-Melero

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Materials Performance Centre, School of Materials, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Interests: nuclear reactor materials; radiation damage; lattice defect structures; phase stability; micro-mechanics; high-temperature testing; structural integrity; neutron and high-energy synchrotron X-ray scattering; electron microscopy; energetic particle-solid interactions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The nuclear community has accumulated decades of experience in operating nuclear fission power plants, and in assessing and modelling relevant radiation-induced degradation phenomena in reactor core materials. However, the available data from surveillance campaigns and test reactors are in many cases not coherent and depend both on alloy microstructures and inhomogeneities and on local environmental conditions. In addition to that, the end-of-life of existing plants and their potential life extension demand metallic materials to operate beyond their safe design margins. In parallel, the advent of Gen III/IV fission reactors with enhanced efficiency and safety and the international roadmap to deploy nuclear fusion technology open new avenues for novel alloy chemistries and manufacturing routes. However, their qualification relies on the reliable prediction of alloy performance under radiation and in synergy with other environmental effects, such as aqueous/non-aqueous coolants, elevated temperatures, thermomechanical stresses or hydrogen/helium levels. It is therefore very timely to focus this Special Issue on critically assessing the current knowledge about radiation damage in nuclear metals and alloys, and to publish new advances in experimental and modelling methodologies and synergies to better predict radiation-induced structural modifications, and their potential impact on the mechanical and corrosion behaviour, fracture mechanics, and dimensional stability of nuclear alloys, systems and components. Potential research contributions to this issue can focus on: (i) the mechanistic understanding of radiation damage at the atomic-to-mesoscale and related modelling approaches; (ii) use of complementary characterisation techniques, such as (scanning) transmission electron microscopy, atom probe tomography, neutron and synchrotron X-ray scattering or positron annihilation spectroscopy; (iii) benchmarking the damage induced by neutron, energetic ion or electron bombardment; (iv) unprecedented damage levels, temperature and flux effects of defect structures; (v) novel alloy development (e.g., high-entropy and nano-structured alloys); (vi) micro/macro-scale testing; and (vii) impact of damage on alloy performance and structural integrity.

Dr. Enrique Jimenez-Melero
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Radiation-induced atomic processes and their spatiotemporal evolution
  • Advanced characterisation of lattice defect structures and local chemistries
  • Radiation sources and international testing facilities
  • Integrated computational materials engineering approaches in nuclear alloy development
  • Model vs. industrial alloys
  • Specimen size effects in mechanical testing of irradiated alloys
  • Radiation-induced hardening and embrittlement
  • Irradiation growth and creep
  • Irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking
  • Hydrogen/helium embrittlement

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 5302 KiB  
Article
Direct Observation of Cu Clusters and Dislocation Loops by Cs-Corrected STEM in Fe-0.6wt%Cu Alloy Irradiated in BR2
by Hideo Watanabe, Tomonari Tanaka, Takuya Turu and Yasuhiro Kamada
Metals 2022, 12(5), 729; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12050729 - 25 Apr 2022
Viewed by 1572
Abstract
The neutron irradiation of Fe-based fusion and fission reactor materials leads to an increase in ductile-to-brittle transition temperature with a decrease in upper shelf energy. It is well known that Cu content has a strong influence on the embrittlement phenomenon, as Cu-rich clusters [...] Read more.
The neutron irradiation of Fe-based fusion and fission reactor materials leads to an increase in ductile-to-brittle transition temperature with a decrease in upper shelf energy. It is well known that Cu content has a strong influence on the embrittlement phenomenon, as Cu-rich clusters (CRPs) are thought to be directly responsible for embrittlement. In contrast, mechanical property studies for steels with different Cu levels exhibit dominant matrix defects in the embrittlement of both low-Cu steels and high-Cu steels at high fluences. To determine the effects of dislocation loops and CRPs on radiation hardening in those steels, neutron irradiation was conducted on Fe-0.6wt%Cu alloy. The neutron irradiation was performed in BR2 at 290 °C up to a dose of 4.1 × 1024 n/m2. After irradiation, the microstructure was observed and analyzed by spherical aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) combined with X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy, using a JEOL ARM200FC. This technique enabled simultaneous observation of ~10 nm CRPs and dislocation loops. Additional high-voltage electron irradiation was performed at room temperature, and the dislocation loops were identified as interstitial-type dislocation loops. Radiation-induced hardening due to neutron irradiation was estimated by measuring the size and density of the dislocation loops and the CRPs. These results suggest that simultaneous observation of dislocation loops and CRPs using the Cs-corrected STEM with EDS analysis is essential for the study of radiation-induced hardening in Fe-based alloys. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiation Damage in Metals and Alloys)
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11 pages, 2541 KiB  
Article
TEM Observation of Loops Decorating Dislocations and Resulting Source Hardening of Neutron-Irradiated Fe-Cr Alloys
by Frank Bergner, Mercedes Hernández-Mayoral, Cornelia Heintze, Milan J. Konstantinović, Lorenzo Malerba and Cristelle Pareige
Metals 2020, 10(1), 147; https://doi.org/10.3390/met10010147 - 18 Jan 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3082
Abstract
Several open issues remain concerning the quantitative understanding of irradiation hardening in high-Cr steels. One of these issues is addressed here by correlating yield points that are observed in stress-strain curves with dislocation decoration observed by TEM for neutron-irradiated Fe-Cr alloys. It is [...] Read more.
Several open issues remain concerning the quantitative understanding of irradiation hardening in high-Cr steels. One of these issues is addressed here by correlating yield points that are observed in stress-strain curves with dislocation decoration observed by TEM for neutron-irradiated Fe-Cr alloys. It is found that both higher neutron exposure and higher Cr content promote irradiation-induced loops to arrange preferentially along dislocation lines. Consequently, the activation of dislocation sources requires unlocking from the decorating loops, thus resulting in a yield drop. This process is considered within the source hardening model as opposed to the dispersed barrier hardening model, the latter aimed to describe dislocation slip through a random array of obstacles. Microstructure-informed estimates of the unlocking stress are compared with measured values of the upper yield stress. As functions of neutron exposure, a cross-over from the dominance of dispersed-barrier hardening accompanied by smooth elastic-plastic transitions to the dominance of source hardening accompanied by yield drops is observed for Fe-9% Cr and Fe-12% Cr. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiation Damage in Metals and Alloys)
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