ASSESSMENT OF RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS FROM DIFFERENT MECHANISMS TO RADIATION EMBRITTLEMENT OF REACTOR PRESSURE-VESSEL STEELS

Experimental data on radiation embrittlement in pressure vessel steels of both Russian and American grades, obtained by the authors and also taken from the literature, have been analysed to assess the relative contributions from the following mechanisms: radiation-induced hardeni ng, inter-and intragranular segregation of impurities at precipitate/m atrix interfaces. It is demonstrated that radiation-induced intragranu lar segregation of impurities frequently provides a significant contri bution to radiation embrittlement of pressure vessel steels. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.