AUTHOR=Mao Keyou S. , Wang Hao , Qu Haozheng J. , Yano Kayla H. , Edmondson Philip D. , Sun Cheng , Wharry Janelle P. 

TITLE=Probing the Damage Recovery Mechanism in Irradiated Stainless Steels Using In-Situ Microcantilever Bending Test

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Materials

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/materials/articles/10.3389/fmats.2022.823192

DOI=10.3389/fmats.2022.823192

ISSN=2296-8016

ABSTRACT=<p>Single crystalline microcantilevers are fabricated from the base metal and heat-affected zone (HAZ) of a laser welded, neutron irradiated austenitic stainless steel, for scanning electron microscope (SEM) <italic>in-situ</italic> bending. In the HAZ, cantilevers exhibit higher yield point and lower crack tip blunting displacement than in the base metal and unirradiated archive specimen. These results suggest that radiation-induced defects harden the base metal, whereas the HAZ exhibits annealing of defects leading to mechanical softening. Dislocation nucleation ahead of the crack tip is responsible for ductile blunting behavior and provides a pathway to mitigating helium-induced cracking during weld repairs of irradiated materials.</p>