Tensile properties of Inconel 718 after low temperature neutron irradiation

Tensile properties of Inconel 718 (IN718) have been investigated after neutron irradiation to 0.0006–1.2 dpa at 60–100 °C in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The alloy was exposed in solution-annealed (SA) and precipitation-hardened (PH) conditions. Before irradiation, the yield strength of PH IN718 was about 1170 MPa, which was 3.7 times higher than that of SA IN718. In the SA condition, an almost threefold increase in yield strength was found at 1.2 dpa, but the alloy retained a positive strain-hardening capability and a uniform ductility of more than 20%. Comparisons showed that the strain-hardening behavior of the SA IN718 is similar to that of a SA 316LN austenitic stainless steel. In the PH condition, the IN718 displayed no radiation-induced hardening in yield strength and significant softening in ultimate tensile strength. The strain-hardening capability of the PH IN718 decreased with dose as the radiation-induced dissolution of precipitates occurred, which resulted in the onset of plastic instability at strains less than 1% after irradiation to 0.16 or 1.2 dpa. An analysis on plastic instability indicated that the loss of uniform ductility in PH IN718 was largely due to the reduction in strain-hardening rate, while in SA IN718 and SA 316LN stainless steel it resulted primarily from the increase of yield stress.