Microstructure-Informed Prediction of Hardening in Ion-Irradiated Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels
Ion irradiation combined with nanoindentation is a promising tool for studying irradiation-induced hardening of nuclear materials, including reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels.For RPV steels, the major sources of hardening are nm-sized irradiation-induced dislocation loops and solute atom clusters, both representing barriers for dislocation glide