Radiation-induced precipitation in V–(Cr,Fe)–Ti alloys irradiated at low temperature with low dose during neutron or ion irradiation

Effects of neutron irradiation damage on mechanical properties and microstructure were studied for V–4Cr–4Ti–0.1Si, V–3Fe–4Ti–0.1Si and vanadium binary alloys with three fluences between 0.01 and 0.1 dpa for 220°C and 340°C. Irradiation hardening appeared in V–(Cr,Fe)–Ti alloys at an early stage of irradiation. Microstructural analysis showed that the irradiation hardening in V–(Cr,Fe)–Ti alloys is caused by radiation-induced precipitates (RIPs). In order to investigate the behavior of RIPs, ion irradiations of highly purified vanadium alloys were performed. It is likely that the nucleation and growth processes in vanadium alloys containing titanium are independent of the impurity concentration during ion irradiation.