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Influence of Radiation-Stimulated Grain-Boundary Segregation of Phosphorus on the Operational Properties of Nuclear-Reactor-Vessel Materials

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Abstract

The main mechanisms of radiation embrittlement of reactor vessel materials are considered to be hardening of material as a result of the formation of matrix defects, for example, micropores and second-phase precipitates – copper and others, and a change in the cohesive strength of grain boundaries as a result of the segregation of surface-active impurities, primarily, phosphorus. The question of the degree to which the latter mechanism affects the change in the properties of reactor-vessel materials under irradiation remains open. In the present paper, computational estimates of the kinetics of radiation-stimulated segregation of phosphorus on grain boundaries in reactor-vessel materials and the resulting changes in the mechanical characteristics of steel are compared with corresponding experimental data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Safe Growth of Nuclear Power, Russia

    A. V. Nikolaeva

  2. Russian Science Center Kurchatov Institute, Russia

    Yu. A. Nikolaev, Yu. R. Kevorkyan & O. O. Zabusov

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  1. A. V. Nikolaeva
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  3. Yu. R. Kevorkyan
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  4. O. O. Zabusov
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Nikolaeva, A.V., Nikolaev, Y.A., Kevorkyan, Y.R. et al. Influence of Radiation-Stimulated Grain-Boundary Segregation of Phosphorus on the Operational Properties of Nuclear-Reactor-Vessel Materials. Atomic Energy 91, 884–895 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014257605632

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