Interaction Between Dislocation Sliding and Damage Structure in Ion-irradiated Stainless Steels

The interaction between dislocation sliding and damage structure in ion-irradiated austenitic stainless steels was investigated. Solution annealed type 316 and 304 stainless steels (316SS and 304SS) were irradiated with 2.8 MeV Fe(2+) ions at 300 degrees C up to 10 dpa and tensiled to 2% plastic strain at 300 degrees C. Dislocations moving from unirradiated matrix were prevented due to the interactions with the damage structures consisted of dislocation loops and voids in the damage region. The prevention of dislocation movements by the damage structures became strong in 304SS compared in 316SS; probably due to lower stacking fault energy in 304SS. The prevention of dislocation movements was weak for Fe ion-irradiated specimens in which the increase in shear strength calculated from the size and number density of the defects was small compared to He ion-irradiated specimens.