Hardening of ferritic alloys at 288 degrees C by electron irradiation

Tensile specimens of a commercially pure iron, an iron-copper alloy and two ferritic pressure vessel steels, were irradiated at 288 degrees C with 2.5 MeV electrons to doses of 2.82 x 10(23) and 9.35 x 10(23) e(-)/m(2), corre sponding to calculated atomic displacement doses of 9.53 x 10(-4) and 3.16 x 10(-3) dpa, respectively. Tensile tests at room temperature showed dose-d ependent increases in yield stress and ultimate tensile stress and reductio ns in uniform elongation, compatible with literature data for A533B steel n eutron-irradiated at 288 degrees C to similar displacement levels. No syste matic effect of copper content was discerned in these electron irradiations , contrary to expectations based on neutron irradiations. For the limited d ose range over which direct comparison can be made, it is concluded that th e hardening efficiency of electron irradiations per unit dpa at 288 degrees C is similar to that for neutron irradiations. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B .V. All rights reserved.