Particularities of Vanadium Microstructure Development During Irradiation by 7.5 MeV Ni2+ Ions at 650°C

The results of an investigation of vacancy porosity and swelling development in the vanadium low-alloy V–0.3%Ti irradiated with 7.5 MeV Ni ions at 650°C to damaging dose 100 dpa and with 40 keV He ions to fl uence 5·10 m at 650°C and additionally with Ni ions are presented. It is shown that at the maximum damage depth ~1.75 μm under irradiation with nickel ions the swelling equals 0.5%, which corresponds to the existing data and attests to the desirability of using the EPG-15 accelerator in simulation studies of the relative radiation resistance of the structural reactor materials at their pre-selection stage. Under irradiation of a sample in the sequence He + Ni gas-fi lled pores form at depth considerably greater than the free-path of helium ions and swelling increases to 1.2% in the zone of maximum structural damage. Once the solubility limit is reached in vanadium the implanted nickel ions form 5–20 nm clusters.