Hydrogen–irradiated steel interaction during alternating hydrogenation and annealing

At present when notable progress in plasma physics has been obtained, practical energy utilization from fusion reactors is determined by the state of material science problems. The last includes not only the routine problems of nuclear engineering but also a number of entirely new problems connected with extreme conditions of materials operation – irradiation environment, hydrogenation, thermocycling, etc. Limited data suggest that the combined effect of these factors is more severe than any one of them alone. To study the possible significance of in-service synergistic phenomena, we studied hydrogen–irradiated steel interaction during alternating hydrogenation and heat treatment (annealing). These studies suggest the existence of residual (unrecovered by annealing) degradation effects caused by hydrogen–irradiated steel interaction during alternating hydrogenation and annealing. We propose that this phenomenon must be taken into account when in-service properties of the candidate structural materials are analyzed.