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Investigation of the Hardening of Neutron Irradiated and Thermally Aged Iron-Copper Alloys, on the Basis of Mechanical and Magnetic Relaxation Phenomena

Date: 24/04/2012
Author: Minov, B.
Subject: Investigation of the Hardening of Neutron Irradiated and Thermally Aged Iron-Copper Alloys, on the Basis of Mechanical and Magnetic Relaxation Phenomena
University: UGent
Promotor: Dupré, L.
SCK CEN Mentor: Konstantinovic, M.

The life-time of RPV depends on its resistance against brittle fracture which is influenced by neutron irradiation induced damage during operation. The informations about microscopic properties of irradiation induced defect - in particular Cu-precipitates, their possible interaction with other defects and the full correlation with macroscopic mechanical properties are not yet established. The present work takes a place in an extensive study of the hardening (the main reason for embrittlement) which occurs in RPV steels due to the copper-precipitation. The effect of Cu-precipitation in the dislocation dynamics is studied by relaxation techniques. The results are related to the temperature dependent internal friction and magnetic after-effect spectra of pure Fe and Fe-Cu alloys, with a variety of Cu-precipitation stages, obtained by both thermal aging and neutron irradiation. These results are correlated with the results of the mechanical tests on the same samples.

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