Compositionally graded specimen made by laser additive manufacturing as a high-throughput method to study radiation damages and irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking

This study demonstrates the feasibility of using compositionally gradient specimens, fabricated by laser additive manufacturing (AM) and post-AM thermo-mechanical treatment, to accelerate alloy synthesis, radiation experiment, and the assessment of irradiation properties in light water reactor environments. The effects of minor Hafnium (Hf) doping in austenitic 316L stainless steel (SS) was selected as the topic of interest. By comparing to the data in literature, we confirmed that the compositionally graded specimen produces the same trend of void swelling, dislocation loops, radiation-induced segregation (RIS), radiation hardening as the wrought specimen produced by cast/forging process. Hf suppressed most radiation damages through strong interaction with point defects. The work also demonstrates the use of compositionally gradient specimens to study the irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) susceptibility of Hf-modified SS. While the suppression of radiation hardening and RIS are consistent with the IASCC mitigation by Hf, we emphasize Hf can alter the intrinsic deformation behavior of 316L SS, which reduces grain-boundary strain localization. The advantages and challenges of using compositionally gradient design for high-throughput nuclear alloy development and qualification are also discussed.