Surface morphology and void formation in 316L stainless steel irradiated with high energy C-ions

This work reports the study of changes of surface topography and bulk struc ture of 316L stainless steel (SS) irradiated at 773 K with 51.4 MeV C-ions to fluence of 1.14 x 10(22) ions/m(2). The calculated damage levels at the surface and at the damage peak position were 0.9 and 124 displacements per atom (dpa), respectively. The changes of surface topography and bulk struct ure were checked at room temperature by the use of scanning probe microscop y (SPM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), 1 MV high voltage electron mic roscopy (HVEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with cross-sectio n technique. The experimental results suggested that high dose carbon ion i rradiation led to (1) serious pitting, flaking, and crazing along grain bou ndaries of the irradiated surface; (2) voids formed in the area around the damage peak and mean void swelling is about 4%. The void swelling data dedu ced from the SEM and TEM observations were the same within the experimental error. Furthermore, some phase change has been detected in the carbon ion stop region. All these observed phenomena were interrelated and have been d iscussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.