An approach in the analysis of microstructure of proton irradiated T91 through XRDLPA using synchrotron and laboratory source

Abstract The changes in the microstructure of 3.5 MeV proton irradiated T91 Ferritic-Martensitic steel samples with dose have been evaluated using detailed X-ray diffraction line profile analysis of the data collected using both laboratory and the synchrotron source. Different line profile analysis techniques like Williamson-Hall, modified Rietveld method and convolutional multiple whole profile fitting have been applied to evaluate the microstructural parameters such as domain size, microstrain, dislocation density and the character of the dislocation from both the data. The coherent domain size decreases and the corresponding microstrain increases at the first dose of irradiation. With further irradiation, these parameters show a slight recovery and eventually tend towards saturation with increasing dose. The dislocation density follows similar trend as the microstrain showing saturation at higher doses of irradiation in both the XRD data. However, a systematic change in the character of the dislocation from screw-type to edge-type could be ascertained only from the data obtained using synchrotron source. The Vickers microhardness of the samples is found to increase continuously with increasing irradiation dose supporting the observed change in the dislocation character from screw-type (glissile) to edge-type (sessile). Both EBSD and TEM analysis of the unirradiated and irradiated samples have supported the results obtained from the XRD analysis.