Alloying effect of Ni and Cr on irradiated microstructural evolution of type 304 stainless steels

Life extension of the existing nuclear power plants imposes significant challenges to core structural materials that suffer increased fluences. This paper presents the microstructural evolution of a type 304 stainless steel and its variants alloyed with extra Ni and Cr under neutron irradiation at ∼320 °C for up to 10.2 dpa. Similar to the reported data of type 304 variants, a large amount of Frank loops, ultrafine G-phase/M23C6 particles, and limited amount of cavities were observed in the irradiated samples. The irradiation promoted the growth of pre-existing M23C6 at grain boundaries and resulted in some phase transformation to CrC in the alloy with both extra Ni and Cr. A new type of ultrafine precipitates, possibly (Ti,Cr)N, was observed in all the samples, and its amount was increased by the irradiation. Additionally, α-ferrite was observed in the type 304 steel but not in the Ni or Ni + Cr alloyed variants. The effect of Ni and Cr alloying on the microstructural evolution is discussed.