A radiation hardening model of 9%Cr–martensitic steels including dpa and helium

Abstract This paper provides a physically-based engineering model to estimate radiation hardening of 9%Cr-steels under both displacement damage (dpa) and helium. The model is essentially based on the dispersed barrier hardening theory and the dynamic re-solution of helium under displacement cascades but incorporating a number of assumptions and simplifications [Trinkaus, J. Nucl. Mater. 318 (2003) 234–340]. As a result, the kinetics of the damage accumulation kept fixed, its amplitude is fitted on one experimental condition. The model was rationalized on an experimental database that mainly consists of ∼9%Cr-steels irradiated in the range of 50–600 °C up to 50 dpa and with a He-content up to 5000 appm. The test temperature effect is taken into account through a normalization procedure based on the change of the Young’s modulus and the anelastic deformation that occurs at high temperature. Despite the large experimental scatter, inherent to the variety of the material and irradiation as well as testing conditions, the obtained results are very promising.