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arXiv · 2508.09018

Characterisation of Irradiation Damage in Fe3Cr and Fe5Cr: A Study on the Effects of Chromium Content and Temperature

Chandra Bhusan Yadav·Andrew J. London·Tonci Tadic·Ruqing Xu·Wenjun Liu·Stjepko Fazinic·Suchandrima Das
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Abstract

Fe-Cr binary alloys serve as simplified model systems to study irradiation damage relevant to fusion structural materials. Here, Fe-3%Cr and Fe-5%Cr samples were irradiated with 4 MeV Fe ions under a dose rate of 4x10^5 dpa/s across a linear thermal gradient (120C to 480C) in a single experiment, enabling direct comparison of temperature and Cr content effects under identical conditions. Depth-resolved Laue micro-diffraction (~10^4 strain sensitivity), nanoindentation, and AFM reveal non-monotonic evolution of lattice strain and hardness: both decrease with temperature up to ~300C, then increase beyond. This turning point reflects a shift from enhanced defect mobility and partial recovery to solute-defect clustering and cavity formation, which stabilize damage. Fe-3%Cr shows consistently higher strain and hardening than Fe-5%Cr, especially at lower temperatures. Minimal change in post-indentation pile-up indicates limited softening or localization. These results highlight how Cr content and temperature jointly affect irradiation response, offering new insights into defect evolution in fusion-relevant alloys.

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Chandra Bhusan Yadav, Andrew J. London, Tonci Tadic, Ruqing Xu, Wenjun Liu, Stjepko Fazinic, Suchandrima Das. 2025-08-13. Characterisation of Irradiation Damage in Fe3Cr and Fe5Cr: A Study on the Effects of Chromium Content and Temperature. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2025.149464

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