Fumihisa Kano

Effect of carbon and nitrogen on grain boundary segregation in irradiated stainless steels

SUS304 stainless steels with carbon contents of 0.052%, 0.019% and 0.004% and SUS316L stainless steels with nitrogen contents of 0.095%, 0.032% and 0.003% were irradiated with 12 MeV Ni ions at 573 K to a dose of 1 dpa at 1 μm depth. Microstructure and grain boundary chemical composition were investigated using a transmission electron microscope with a field-emission-gun (FE-TEM) at the probe size of 0.5 nm. The number density of dislocation loop was higher as the carbon content was higher and was almost independent of nitrogen content. With increasing carbon and nitrogen content, the degree of Cr depletion and Si/Ni segregation was decreased. Both carbon and nitrogen suppressed the Cr depletion and Si/Ni segregation. The suppression effect of carbon was larger than that of nitrogen.

The effect of hydrogen on microstructural changes using dual ion irradiation

Abstract The effect of hydrogen on cavity formation in vanadium was investigated using dual ion irradiation at 773,873 and 973 K with hydrogen injection of 0, 15, 30 and 60 appm/dpa doses up to 50 dpa. In some of the samples after dual beam irradiation with H and Ni ions, bimodal cavity size distribution was observed. The injected hydrogen may affect cavity nucleation in a similar manner as helium. There is a critical radius of the cavity under H dual irradiation which depends on the irradiation temperature, like He dual irradiation. The dependence of the critical radius on the amount of injected hydrogen is not clear, but it is suggested that the amount of hydrogen more than a certain value is necessary to promote the nucleation of cavities by injected hydrogen.

Effect of weld thermal cycle, stress and helium content on helium bubble formation in stainless steels

Helium bubble structure was examined on a helium-implanted stainless steel after applying thermal and stress cycle using a weld thermal and stress cycle simulator. Helium ions were implanted on Type 304 stainless steels up to 200 appm uniformly to a depth of 3.5 μm. The specimens were heated at various temperatures between 1073 and 1473 K for 2 s in Ar gas atmosphere. Tensile stresses from 0.5 to 8 MPa were applied during the thermal cycle. TEM observations revealed that size of the bubbles at grain boundaries was larger for the specimens with a higher tensile stress and with a higher annealing temperature. Densities of bubbles increased with increasing helium content. A theoretical model calculation showed a good agreement with the experimental results.

Effect of weld thermal cycle on helium bubble formation in stainless steel

Helium bubble structure was examined on a helium-implanted stainless steel after applying two kinds of heat input. Helium ions were implanted on Type 304 stainless steel at 573 K from 2 to 200 appm to a peak depth of 0.5 μm from the surface. After that, weld thermal history was applied by an electron beam. The cooling rates were selected to be 370 and 680 K/s from 1023 to 773 K. TEM observation revealed that nucleation and growth of helium bubbles were strongly dependent on the cooling rate after welding and the helium concentration.

Weldability of helium-containing stainless steels using a YAG laser

Bead-on-plate welding experiments using a 400 W YAG laser were conducted on SUS304 stainless steels implanted with helium ions of 0.5, 5 and 50 appm uniformly to a depth of 0.25 mm. High heat input welding at 20 kJ/cm caused surface grain boundary cracking in the heat-affected zone at 50 appm He. Cross-sectional observations after etching in oxalic acid solution revealed that bubble growth at grain boundaries in the heat-affected zone was enhanced at higher heat input and at higher helium concentrations. Bubble growth was negligible for the laser welding condition of 1 kJ/cm even at 50 appm He. The results suggest that YAG laser welding is a promising welding technique for stainless steels containing high amounts of helium.