A critical review of irradiation-induced changes in reactor pressure vessel steels

A large body of work has been conducted to investigate the embrittlement and degradation of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels. This includes experiments on alloys with different compositions, performed in research and test reactors and ion accelerators that span various temperatures, fluxes, and fluences. In this paper, we perform a critical review of the published experimental data and compile experimentally reported values for dislocation loop size/density, precipitate size/density and yield stress into an easily downloadable format that can be used by both experimentalists and modelers. This thorough experimental review is complemented by a brief review of simulation efforts at atomistic and mesoscopic length scales. Finally, this paper highlights key aspects of the behavior of RPV steels under irradiation, identifies gaps or discrepancies in current understanding, and identifies priority future research directions.. Authors: Bohanon, Brandon [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)]; Wei, Peng [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)]; Foster, Ashley [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)]; Bazar, Layali [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)]; Zhang, Yongfeng [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)]. DOE Contract: 89233218CNA000001; AC07-05ID14517; NE0009255. Subjects: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; CRPs; MNPs; Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) Steels; dislocation loop; embrittlement; hardening; irradiation; yield strength