Radiation hardening in niobium-dependence of the yield stress on neutron dose

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Abstract
Niobium samples were neutron-irradiated at reactor ambient temperatures (approximately 50 °C for polycrystals and 90°C for single crystals) to doses from 4 × 1015 to 8 × 1018 neutrons/cm2 (E> 1 MeV). The density and size distribution of radiation-produced defect clusters, observed by transmission electron microscopy, were measured in polycrystalline niobium over a range of doses from 2 × 1017 to 4.4 × 10l8 neutrons/cm2. The TEM results were correlated with yield stress measurements as a function of dose. The radiation hardening was analyzed on the basis of a planar dispersed barrier model. It was found that the observed increases in yield stress at low doses were consistent with the measured density and size distribution of the defect clusters, with a cluster strength of (0.5–0.8) Gb2 (G, shear modulus; b, Burgers vector). This corresponds to strong barrier hardening. At doses above about 1018 neutrons/cm2, the hardening rate decreased sharply; this apparent saturation is discussed in terms of the coarsening of defect clusters, dislocation channeling, and the effect of interstitial impurities.