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Irradiation Damage

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Materials for Nuclear Plants

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Abstract

Irradiation damage is one of the most important damage mechanisms for nuclear materials. Neutrons transfer their energy to atoms which start to jump creating vacancies and interstitials being responsible for formation of defect clusters or microstructural changes (segregations, phase reactions). Nuclear reactions or transmutation can create alpha particle emitters which leads to helium gas which has to be accomodated by the material. All these effects can significantly deteriorate materials properties and limit the life-time of components. In the first part of this chapter an introduction into the most important radiation damage effects will be given. In the second part the consequences of irradiation damage (hardening, embrittlement, segregation, swelling, radiation creep) of components for current and future nuclear plants will be discussed.

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    Wolfgang Hoffelner

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Hoffelner, W. (2013). Irradiation Damage . In: Materials for Nuclear Plants. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2915-8_5

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