Void swelling and precipitation in a titanium-modified austenitic stainless steel under proton irradiation

The correlation between void swelling and precipitation behavior in a 10% cold worked Fe-16.2Ni-14.6Cr-2.37Mo-1.79Mn-0.53Si-0.24Ti-0.06C alloy was examined with 200 keV proton irradiation. Swelling peak temperature after the proton irradiation to 10 dpa was about 823 K, and void swelling decreased steeply with increase in irradiation temperature from 823 to 923 K. Void swelling increased rapidly from 1.9 to 12.1% with increase in irradiation dose from 20 to 45 dpa at 873 K. Fine intragranular TiC precipitates, which were formed during initial stage of irradiation, dissolved gradually with increase in irradiation dose from 10 to 45 dpa at 873 K, while the amount of precipitation of needle-shaped Fe₂P phase containing titanium increased with increasing dose. The reduction of sink strength of the TiC precipitates due to the dissolution during irradiation was thought to cause the increase of swelling rate with increase in irradiation dose from 20 to 45 dpa at 873 K.