Nanoindentation applied to ion-irradiated and neutron-irradiated Fe-9Cr and Fe-9Cr-NiSiP model alloys

Abstract

Nanoindentation of ion-irradiated materials has attracted much interest as a tool envisaged to derive the dose dependence of bulk-equivalent hardness from small samples. A major challenge arises from the steep damage gradient in the thin ion-irradiated layer and its unavoidable interplay with the indentation size effect. The present study relies on a number of choices aimed at simplifying the interpretation of the results and strengthening the conclusions. The studied alloys are two ferritic Fe-9Cr model alloys differing in controlled amounts of Ni, Si, and P known to enhance irradiation hardening. Both ion-irradiated (5 MeV Fe2+ ions) and neutron-irradiated samples along with the unirradiated references were investigated using Berkovich tips. According to the collaborative nature of the study, tests were conducted in two different laboratories using different equipment. A generalized Nix–Gao approach was applied to derive the bulk-equivalent hardness and characteristic length scale parameters for the homogeneous unirradiated and neutron-irradiated samples. Comparison with Vickers hardness indicates a 6% overestimation of the bulk-equivalent hardness as compared to the ideal correlation. For the case of ion irradiation, a first model assumes a homogeneous irradiated layer on a homogeneous substrate, while a second model explicitly takes into account the damage gradient. The first model was combined with both the original and the generalized Nix–Gao relation. We have found that the results revealed for Fe-9Cr vs Fe-9Cr-NiSiP are compatible with expectations based upon known irradiation-induced microstructures. The bulk-equivalent hardness derived for ion-irradiated samples reasonably agrees with the observation for neutron-irradiated samples.