Hardening of Fe–Cu alloys at elevated temperatures by electron and neutron irradiations

Comparative experiments using 2.5 MeV electron irradiations to Fe–Cu model alloys have been undertaken to study the gamma-ray induced hardening of RPV steels. Hardness changes induced by Cu precipitates for Fe–0.6%CU model alloy was confirmed. The difference between electron and neutron irradiation hardening was very small on a dpa basis except for very low dpa.