TEM Observation of Loops Decorating Dislocations and Resulting Source Hardening of Neutron-Irradiated Fe-Cr Alloys

Several open issues remain concerning the quantitative understanding of irradiation hardening in high-Cr steels. One of these issues is addressed here by correlating yield points that are observed in stress–strain curves with dislocation decoration observed by TEM for neutron-irradiated Fe–Cr alloys. It is found that both higher neutron exposure and higher Cr content promote irradiation-induced loops to arrange preferentially along dislocation lines. Consequently, the activation of dislocation sources requires unlocking from the decorating loops, thus resulting in a yield drop. This process is considered within the source hardening model as opposed to the dispersed barrier hardening model, the latter aimed to describe dislocation slip through a random array of obstacles. Microstructure-informed estimates of the unlocking stress are compared with measured values of the upper yield stress. As functions of neutron exposure, a cross-over from the dominance of dispersed-barrier hardening accompanied by smooth elastic–plastic transitions to the dominance of source hardening accompanied by yield drops is observed for Fe–9%Cr and Fe–12%Cr.