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Coherency Strain and Dislocations in Copper-Rich-Precipitate Embrittled A710 Ferritic Steels

  • Symposium: Neutron and X-Ray Studies of Advanced Materials IV
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Abstract

The irradiation embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel steels was studied on surrogate samples of A710 ferritic steels, which is rich in copper. Dislocations and coherency strain caused by the copper-rich precipitates, as a function of aging time, were studied by small-angle neutron scattering, diffraction line-broadening analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and Eshelby inclusion method. Aging has induced copper-rich precipitate nucleation and growth, thus impeding the dislocation motion and hardening the steels. The precipitates are coherent with the matrix up to about 3.5 nm in radius, when they become semi coherent with the ferritic matrix, thus relaxing strains/stresses and softening it. There is good agreement between all experimental techniques used and the Eshelby inclusion model.

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Acknowledgments

The author is indebted to H. Ledbetter, G. Alers, D. Hurley, B. Igarashi, W. Johnson, S. Kim, D. McColskey, and P. Purtscher for helpful discussions. H. Ogi (University of Osaka, Japan) has provided TEM measurements. The NG-7 SANS beamline at the NIST Center for Neutron Research and instrument scientists are gratefully acknowledged. The author thanks Günter Goerigk (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie) for very helpful comments, especially regarding SANS measurements and data analysis.

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  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Denver, 2112 E. Wesley Ave, Denver, CO, 80208, USA

    Davor Balzar (Associate Professor)

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  1. Davor Balzar
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Correspondence to Davor Balzar.

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Manuscript submitted April 15, 2011.

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Balzar, D. Coherency Strain and Dislocations in Copper-Rich-Precipitate Embrittled A710 Ferritic Steels. Metall Mater Trans A 43, 1462–1467 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-011-0827-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-011-0827-4

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