Study of Radiation Damage of Materials Candidate to Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems by Utilizing High-Energy Heavy Ions at HIRFL

Because of the similarity in cascade damage structure in materials produced by energetic heavy ions and by fast neutrons, and the high displacement rate and low induced radioactivity of samples by heavy ions, heavy ion beam becomes an important tool to simulate radiation damage by energetic neutrons in materials in advanced nuclear energy systems. The ranges of heavy ions provided by HIRFL (Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou) are generally much larger than the mean dimensions of grains in alloys candidate to advanced nuclear reactors, and is capable of producing radiation damage in bulk scale. It therefore makes possible the evaluation of change of mechanical properties including the radiation induced embrittlement from the irradiated specimens by using miniaturized specimen techniques. In the present paper, we provide an introduction of our recent studies of radiation damage of materials candidate to future fusion reactors by utilizing heavy ion beams in HIRFL.The studies include issues as follows:ductility loss of RAFM steels causes by high-energy Ne ions, impact of oxide dispersoids on the radiation resistance of ODS ferritic steels, correlation of void swelling of ferritic/martensitic steels under different particle irradiation, and behavior of deuterium retention in tungsten under irradiation with high-energy heavy ions. The results show that high-energy heavy ions can be used as a tool to efficiently investigate or evaluate radiation damage in structure materials if combined with some special test techniques and data analysis.