Irradiation behaviour of titanium alloys for ITER blanket modules flexible attachment

The high strength (α+β)- and α-titanium alloys are considered as a candidate materials for flexible attachments of the shield blanket modules in the ITER reactor owing to their advantageous combination of properties, i.e. low elasticity modulus, high resistance to impact loading, high strength, low density and low thermal expansion coefficient. There are limited data available on the irradiation behaviour of these materials. Neutron irradiation of (α+β) Ti–6Al–4V alloy has been performed in the framework of the ITER R&D program. Specimens from two heats of Ti–6Al–4V alloys were irradiated in the IVV-2M reactor up to a dose of 0.35–0.42 dpa at temperatures 240–260 °C. This paper describes the tensile, low cycle fatigue and fracture toughness properties of Ti–6Al–4V alloy in the unirradiated condition and after neutron irradiation.