Study of Oxide-Dispersion-Strengthened Ferritic Steels after Ion Implantation

This paper is focused on four different commercial oxide-dispersion-strengthened ferritic steels (MA 956, ODM 751, MA 957 and ODS Eurofer) with different chromium content and the change of their microstructure after helium ion implantation. The samples were implanted with kinetic energy of ions up to 500 keV and the implantation depth was up to 1.2 μm. The implantation was performed at Institute of Nuclear and Physical Engineering, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. The samples were observed prior and after the implantation by positron Doppler broadening spectroscopy with slow positron beam (energy up to 36 keV) which is one of the most suitable techniques due to its sensitivity to surface and subsurface layers up to 1.6 μm. The results showed visible change of defect presence in all samples and defect depth profiles are in a good accordance with SRIM software calculations displaying the Bragg peak. According to measured data, ODS Eurofer (9% Cr) seems to be the most radiation resistant from the group of all investigated steels and MA 956 (20% Cr) as the most radiation affected steel.