The study of bubble formation in 316L stainless steel irradiated with helium ions at 873 K

• Published in: Journal of nuclear materials 1996-12, Vol.240 (1), p.70-74
• Main Authors: Wang, Y.S., Chen, K.Q., Zhang, C.H., Quan, J.M., Sun, J.G., Zhao, Z.Y.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-3115; 1873-4820
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-3115(96)00460-6

Samples of solution annealed (SA) and 20% cold worked (CW) 316L austenitic stainless steel were irradiated with 2.5 MeV helium ions at 873 K. The ion fluence is 2.0 × 10 17 ions/cm 2 and flux is 2.11 × 10 12 ions/cm 2s. The bubble morphology and distribution along ion penetrating depth were observed with transmission electron microscope (TEM). Bubbles are faceted and the mechanism underlying bubble nucleation seems to be in the transition regime of di-atomic nucleation and multi-atomic nucleation in the SA sample. Helium depth distribution was deduced from the measured bubble size and density with the help of high density equation of state for helium. At the same irradiation condition, dislocations introduced in the CW sample before irradiation can increase bubble nucleation rate and decrease bubble growth rate. The swelling produced by bubbles is smaller in CW sample.