SEDL / STP / STP1175-EB / STP23972S

The Complex Action of Major Solutes on Radiation-Induced Swelling of Fe-Cr-Ni Austenitic Alloys

Garner, FA
Staff Scientist, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA

Lauritzen, T
Senior Engineer, General Electric Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA

Mitchell, MA
Graduate Student, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL

Pages: 13    Published: Jan 1994

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Abstract

The radiation-induced swelling of simple Fe-Cr-Ni austenitic alloys is known to be very sensitive to solute additions. It is shown in this paper that three of the most common solute elements (P,Si,Mo) exert a very complex and often non-monotonic influence on swelling with increasing solute level. The complexity of this influence and its dependence on other variables appears to be the result of a closely balanced competition between two or more roles played by each solute in its interaction with both vacancies and interstitials. This competition yields a variety of different swelling behaviors in response to changes in solute or solvent composition, displacement rate, and irradiation temperature.