Swelling, irradiation creep and growth of pure rhenium irradiated with fast neutrons at 1030-1330 degrees C

This paper discusses the results of two series of experiments conducted on pure hcp rhenium in the EBR-II and FFTF fast reactors. In FFTF, density cha nge data were derived from open tubes and solid rods irradiated at temperat ures and fluences in the range of 1020-1250 degreesC and 4.4-8.3 x 10(22) n cm(-2), respectively (E > 0.1 MeV). Both density change and diametral chan ge data were obtained from pressurized tubes irradiated in EBR-II to simila r to0.65 and similar to5.1 x 10(22) n cm(-2) at temperatures between 1030 d egreesC and 1330 degreesC. Analysis of the data shows that four concurrent processes contribute to the radiation-induced strains observed in these exp eriments. These are void swelling, transmutation-induced densification via production of osmium, irradiation creep and irradiation growth. (C) 2000 El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.