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Effect of pre-deformation enhanced thermal aging on precipitation and microhardness of a reactor pressure vessel steel

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Abstract

Microstructure evolution in neutron irradiated Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) steels was experimentally simulated through an improved degradation procedure in this study. The degradation procedure includes austenitizing at 1 150 °C and water quench, deformation 10% and 30% respectively, and then thermal aging at 500 °C for different period of time. The microstructure of the specimens was analyzed in details using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The micro-hardness test results showed that all the hardness curves of undeformed, 10% pre-deformed and 30% pre-deformed specimens have two micro-hardness peaks with the first peak value corresponding to different thermal aging time of 1 hour, 5 hours and 10 hours, respectively. It was revealed that the hardness curves were influenced by the precipitation of Cu-rich precipitates (CRPs) and carbides, deposition of martensite and work hardening.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University (BUAA), Beijing, 100191, China

    Sujun Wu  (吴素君), Bo Liu, Luowei Cao & Shuai Luo

Authors
  1. Sujun Wu  (吴素君)
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  2. Bo Liu
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  3. Luowei Cao
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  4. Shuai Luo
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Correspondence to Sujun Wu  (吴素君).

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Wu, S., Liu, B., Cao, L. et al. Effect of pre-deformation enhanced thermal aging on precipitation and microhardness of a reactor pressure vessel steel. J. Wuhan Univ. Technol.-Mat. Sci. Edit. 28, 592–597 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11595-013-0736-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11595-013-0736-z

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