Static strain aging and dislocation–impurity interactions in irradiated mild steel

Interactions between dislocations and interstitial impurity atoms lead to strain aging phenomenon in ferritic steels that are affected by the defects produced during neutron radiation exposure. We present here results on static strain aging in a silicon-killed mild steel before and after neutron irradiation. It is noted that the degree of strain aging (as measured by the yield point following restraining) decreased with increasing neutron dose resulting in essentially non-aging type at the highest dose (∼1019 n/cm2). The strain aging kinetics were investigated using data at various aging temperatures and were found to be unaffected by the neutron radiation exposure. These experimental results are compared to those observed in dry hydrogen treated (partially denitrided) samples and are correlated with models on Cottrell locking.