EFFECTS OF ANNEALING ON THE TENSILE PROPERTIES OF IRRADIATED AUSTENITIC STAINLESS-STEEL

The austenitic stainless steel (Fe-0.06C-0.55Si-1.8Mn-14Cr-16Ni-2Mo-0. 24Ti) was irradiated in a triple ion facility and the High Flux Isotop e Reactor. The materials used were in the solution annealed (SA) and 1 5% cold-worked (CW) condition. TEM and tensile specimens were irradiat ed to a dose level of 30 and 10 dpa at 200 degrees C. Some of the spec imens were annealed after the irradiation at 500 degrees C for 8 h in a vacuum. Microhardness tests were carried out on the surface of the T EM disks at room temperature. Tensile tests were carried out at 200 de grees C in a vacuum with strain rate of about 1 x 10(-3) s(-1). The mi crohardness of both SA and CW increased by ion irradiation and then de creased by annealing. The yield strengths of the neutron irradiated SA and CW decreased to 610 and 650 MPa by annealing, respectively. The s train to necking of the irradiated CW recovered from 0.7% to 7.6%. The fracture mode remained ductile in each case, (C) 1998 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.