1. Correlative STEM-APT characterization of radiation-induced segregation and precipitation of in-service BWR 304 stainless steel.
- Author
-
Lach, Timothy G., Olszta, Matthew J., Taylor, Sandra D., Yano, Kayla H., Edwards, Dan J., Byun, Thak Sang, Chou, Peter H., and Schreiber, Daniel K.
- Subjects
- *
BOILING water reactors , *STAINLESS steel , *SCANNING transmission electron microscopy , *STRESS corrosion cracking , *ATOM-probe tomography - Abstract
• Segregation and precipitation in BWR stainless steel were studied by STEM and APT. • Each technique can give conflicting results on radiation induced segregation. • Elemental segregation to dislocations mirrored the segregation to grain boundaries. • Formation of conjoined clusters as potential precursors of α' and G-phase. Radiation induced segregation and precipitation phenomena in an in-service boiling water reactor 304 stainless steel component were investigated using directly correlated 3D-atom probe tomography and scanning transmission electron microscopy. Significant quantitative differences in measured segregation at grain boundaries were found between the atom probe and energy dispersive spectroscopy measurements of the exact same locations. In particular, a much stronger Si segregation (~10 atomic% via atom probe versus ~4 atomic% via electron microscopy) and different Cr profile shapes were detected that are critical to models of radiation induced segregation and stress corrosion cracking behavior. These quantitative differences highlight the need for comparative microscopy and critical evaluation of limitations in each analytical method. Elemental segregation to dislocations and conjoined-clusters were also highlighted by atom probe; confirming and expanding upon what has been observed in test reactor neutron and accelerator-based ion irradiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF