Study on Radiation Properties of Domestic ZIRLO Irradiated by Ni Heavy Ions

The domestic ZIRLO is a promising candidate of cladding materials for CAP1400. It is necessary to test its radiation properties before its use. In this paper, the radiation properties of the domestic ZIRLO have been studied as functions of irradiation temperature and dose respectively. The experiment was performed at the HI-13 tandem accelerator of China Institute of Atomic Energy by using 80 MeV Ni ions at different temperature and different dose. The transmission electron microscopy, electron dispersive spectroscopy and nano-indentation were used to characterize the radiation damage. The experimental results show that the precipitates are uniformly distributed at 10 dpa and 300℃, while at 700℃ the number of precipitates is reduced. Among all the precipitates, Nbisthe dominant element. Hardening phenomenon was also observed after irradiation, the higher the radiation dose, the higher the degree of hardening, and it illustrates a decreasing tendency with the increasing of the irradiation temperature.