A Brief Review on He Ion Irradiation Research of Steel and Iron-Based Alloys in Nuclear Power Plants
Review article, 2023

Nuclear power plays a key role as renewable energy in alleviating the worldwide energy shortage. The material degradation caused by high-temperature and high-flux neutron irradiation is the most concerning issue for nuclear reactor safety. A large number of He atoms produced through the (n, alpha) transmutation reaction diffuse and migrate in metals and accumulate to form He bubbles because of the extremely low solubility of He atoms in metal materials. The helium bubbles gather at the grain boundary or grain to cause swelling, hardening, embrittlement, and other damages to the in-core structural components. This paper mainly summarizes the research progress on He irradiation in steel and iron-based alloys, including the diffusion and accumulation of He atoms, the nucleation and growth of He bubbles, and the microstructure and macroscopic degradation of material performance caused by He irradiation. The mechanism of helium irradiation-induced corrosion in steel and iron-based alloys in recent years is reviewed as well. Moreover, the investigations on irradiation performance in additive manufactured stainless steels are summarized, and the mechanism of irradiation resistance is prospected.

Irradiation

Nuclear stainless steel

Helium bubbles

Additive manufacture

Author

Siyi Qiu

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Hui Liu

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Menglei Jiang

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Shiling Min

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Yanlin Gu

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Qingyan Wang

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Jing Yang

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Xuejun Li

China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd.

Zhuoer Chen

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Materials and manufacture

Juan Hou

China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd.

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters)

1006-7191 (ISSN) 21941289 (eISSN)

Vol. 36 4 529-551

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Subject Categories

Other Materials Engineering

Metallurgy and Metallic Materials

Corrosion Engineering

DOI

10.1007/s40195-022-01475-7

More information

Latest update

3/21/2023