Effects of high-fluence irradiation in fusion-relevant helium prod-action c
ondition on defect cluster formation and swelling of reduced activation fer
ritic/martensitic steels (RAFs), JLF-1 (Fe-9Cr-2W-V-Ta) and F82H (Fe-8Cr-2W
-V-Ta), have been investigated. Dual-ion (nickel plus helium ions) irradiat
ion using electrostatic accelerators was adopted to simulate fusion neutron
environment. The irradiation has been carried out up to a damage level of
100 displacement per atom (dpa) at around 723 K, at the HIT facility in the
University of Tokyo. Thin foils for transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
were prepared with a focused ion beam (FIB) microsampling system. The syst
em enabled not only the broad cross-sectional TEM observation, but also the
detailed study of irradiated microstructure, since unfavorable effects of
ferromagnetism of a ferritic steel specimen were completely suppressed with
this system by sampling a small volume in interests from the irradiated ma
terial. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.