Neutron studies of irradiation-induced defects in Cu-based materials for nuclear applications

The impact of irradiation on structural nuclear materials is one of the most studied aspects in the field of nuclear research. The irradiation effect involves a complex combination of many types of damage in different time and dimensional scales. The challenge in nuclear material research is to gain knowledge about the migration and agglomeration of defects as well as the trapping and de-trapping of helium at high temperatures. In the current proposal, we want to study irradiation-induced defects and helium-defect interaction in the precipitation-hardened copper alloy CuCrZr and oxide dispersion-strengthened copper ODS-Cu. We would like to determine the role of initially existing defects as phase boundaries and pre-treatment Ne implantation on He retention and bubble sizes in these materials. On the basis of the data obtained, the answer will be sought which of the tested materials is most suitable for nuclear application

辐照（irradiation）对核结构材料（structural nuclear materials）的影响是核研究领域内最受关注的研究方向之一。辐照效应涉及不同时间与空间尺度下多种类型损伤的复杂耦合作用。核材料研究的核心挑战在于阐明高温环境下缺陷的迁移与团簇行为，以及氦的俘获与脱俘获机制。在本研究提案中，我们拟针对沉淀硬化铜合金（precipitation-hardened copper alloy）CuCrZr与氧化物弥散强化铜（oxide dispersion-strengthened copper）ODS-Cu开展辐照诱导缺陷及缺陷-氦相互作用的相关研究。我们旨在明确材料中原生存在的缺陷（如相界（phase boundaries））以及预氖注入处理（pre-treatment Ne implantation）对两种材料内氦滞留量与气泡尺寸的影响机制。基于所获取的实验数据，我们将探究受试材料中哪一种最适用于核应用场景。