Mechanical behavior of reduced-activation and conventional martensitic steels after neutron irradiation in the range 250–450°C

The objective of this work is to examine the susceptibility to hardening and embrittlement of Fe7.5/11CrWTaV reduced-activation (RA) and conventional 9/12Cr–Mo martensitic steels as a function of fluence up to 10 dpa and irradiation temperature in the range of 250–450°C. For this purpose, materials were irradiated in the Osiris Reactor (Saclay) at 325°C for various doses ranging from 0.8 dpa to a maximum dose of 8–9 dpa. Available data concern the evolution of tensile properties for doses from 0.8 to 3.4 dpa. On the other hand, RA-steels were irradiated as Charpy V and tensile specimens in the high flux reactor (HFR) at Petten at temperatures ranging from 250°C to 450°C with a dose of about 2.4 dpa.