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Influence of grain size on the hardness of alpha plutonium

  • Mechanical Behavior
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Abstract

The effect of grain size on the hardness of alpha plutonium was measured at temperatures between 77° and 373°K. The observations were: 1) fine-grained metal had the lowest hardness at 373°K, 2) fine-grained metal had the highest hardness at 77°K, and 3) fine-grained metal had the greatest temperature dependence of hardness. At room temperature, fine-grained α-plutonium (1 μm) had a hardness of 235 Dph, whereas coarse-grained metal (2000 μm) had a hardness of 310 Dph. At 373°K fine-grained metal had a hardness of 120 compared to 225 Dph for the coarse-grained metal. At 77°K the hardness values were 505 and 475 Dph, the fine-grained metal being harder at this temperature. The hardness was estimated to be independent of grain size at 140°K. Above 140°K, grain boundaries have a softening effect due to the contribution of grain boundary sliding to deformation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plutonium Research Section, Battelle Memorial Institute, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Wash.

    M. D. Merz (Senior Research Scientist) & R. D. Nelson (Manager)

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  1. M. D. Merz
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  2. R. D. Nelson
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Merz, M.D., Nelson, R.D. Influence of grain size on the hardness of alpha plutonium. Metall Trans 2, 1399–1402 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02913366

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