Microstructural changes induced in advanced tungsten grades under high temperature neutron irradiation

Wouter Van Renterghem; Koray Iroc; Dmitry Terentyev; Steffen Antusch; Michael Rieth

doi:10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2024.106718

Microstructural changes induced in advanced tungsten grades under high temperature neutron irradiation

Wouter Van Renterghem, Koray Iroc, Dmitry Terentyev, Steffen Antusch, Michael Rieth

Microstructural and Non-destructive Analysis

Research output › peer-review

Abstract

Recent studies addressing the change of mechanical properties after high temperature irradiation of tungsten have reported substantial increase of the ductile to brittle transition temperature as well as increase of the hardness. In this work, we performed microstructural analysis by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on various tungsten grades earlier exposed to high temperature neutron irradiation at 1200 °C up to 1 dpa. The latter corresponds to the expected irradiation temperature on the surface of a tungsten monoblock during the steady state operation in ITER. TEM was applied to five tungsten (W) materials including ITER specification pure W and precipitate strengthened W alloys. The analysis of TEM data coupled with its discussion led to a number of important conclusions regarding the damage induced at 1200 °C neutron irradiation such as: (i) weak effect of recrystallization on the accumulation of the lattice damage; (ii) promising results on the tolerance of damage accumulation in W-Y ₂O ₃ grade and (iii) internal oxidation of TiC particles which may contribute to the huge increase of the irradiation induced hardening.

Original language	English
Article number	106718
Number of pages	11
Journal	International Journal of Refractory Metals & Hard Materials
Volume	122
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2024.106718
State	Published - Aug 2024

Funding

This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium, funded by the European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Programme (Grant Agreement No 101052200 \u2014 EUROfusion). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them. The authors also acknowledge the support of FOD Belgium.

Funders	Funder number
EC - European Commission	101052200 — EUROfusion

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Mechanics of Materials
Ceramics and Composites
Mechanical Engineering
Metals and Alloys
Materials Chemistry

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Cite this

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title = "Microstructural changes induced in advanced tungsten grades under high temperature neutron irradiation",

abstract = "Recent studies addressing the change of mechanical properties after high temperature irradiation of tungsten have reported substantial increase of the ductile to brittle transition temperature as well as increase of the hardness. In this work, we performed microstructural analysis by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on various tungsten grades earlier exposed to high temperature neutron irradiation at 1200 °C up to 1 dpa. The latter corresponds to the expected irradiation temperature on the surface of a tungsten monoblock during the steady state operation in ITER. TEM was applied to five tungsten (W) materials including ITER specification pure W and precipitate strengthened W alloys. The analysis of TEM data coupled with its discussion led to a number of important conclusions regarding the damage induced at 1200 °C neutron irradiation such as: (i) weak effect of recrystallization on the accumulation of the lattice damage; (ii) promising results on the tolerance of damage accumulation in W-Y 2O 3 grade and (iii) internal oxidation of TiC particles which may contribute to the huge increase of the irradiation induced hardening.",

keywords = "Tungsten, Transmission electron microscopy, FIB, Neutron irradiation, Microstructure, ITER",

author = "{Van Renterghem}, Wouter and Koray Iroc and Dmitry Terentyev and Steffen Antusch and Michael Rieth",

note = "Score=10 Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023",

year = "2024",

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doi = "10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2024.106718",

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AU - Van Renterghem, Wouter

AU - Iroc, Koray

AU - Terentyev, Dmitry

AU - Antusch, Steffen

AU - Rieth, Michael

PY - 2024/8

Y1 - 2024/8

N2 - Recent studies addressing the change of mechanical properties after high temperature irradiation of tungsten have reported substantial increase of the ductile to brittle transition temperature as well as increase of the hardness. In this work, we performed microstructural analysis by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on various tungsten grades earlier exposed to high temperature neutron irradiation at 1200 °C up to 1 dpa. The latter corresponds to the expected irradiation temperature on the surface of a tungsten monoblock during the steady state operation in ITER. TEM was applied to five tungsten (W) materials including ITER specification pure W and precipitate strengthened W alloys. The analysis of TEM data coupled with its discussion led to a number of important conclusions regarding the damage induced at 1200 °C neutron irradiation such as: (i) weak effect of recrystallization on the accumulation of the lattice damage; (ii) promising results on the tolerance of damage accumulation in W-Y 2O 3 grade and (iii) internal oxidation of TiC particles which may contribute to the huge increase of the irradiation induced hardening.

AB - Recent studies addressing the change of mechanical properties after high temperature irradiation of tungsten have reported substantial increase of the ductile to brittle transition temperature as well as increase of the hardness. In this work, we performed microstructural analysis by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on various tungsten grades earlier exposed to high temperature neutron irradiation at 1200 °C up to 1 dpa. The latter corresponds to the expected irradiation temperature on the surface of a tungsten monoblock during the steady state operation in ITER. TEM was applied to five tungsten (W) materials including ITER specification pure W and precipitate strengthened W alloys. The analysis of TEM data coupled with its discussion led to a number of important conclusions regarding the damage induced at 1200 °C neutron irradiation such as: (i) weak effect of recrystallization on the accumulation of the lattice damage; (ii) promising results on the tolerance of damage accumulation in W-Y 2O 3 grade and (iii) internal oxidation of TiC particles which may contribute to the huge increase of the irradiation induced hardening.

KW - Tungsten

KW - Transmission electron microscopy

KW - FIB

KW - Neutron irradiation

KW - Microstructure

KW - ITER

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