Rahman Md Hafijur, Rasel Md Abu Jafar, Smyth Christopher M, Waryoba Daudi, Haque Aman
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16803, USA.
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA.
Materials (Basel). 2024 Dec 31;18(1):124. doi: 10.3390/ma18010124.
Traditional defect recovery methods rely on high-temperature annealing, often exceeding 750 °C for FeCrAl. In this study, we introduce electron wind force (EWF)-assisted annealing as an alternative approach to mitigate irradiation-induced defects at significantly lower temperatures. FeCrAl samples irradiated with 5 MeV Zr ions at a dose of 10 cm were annealed using EWF at 250 °C for 60 s. We demonstrate a remarkable transformation in the irradiated microstructure, where significant increases in kernel average misorientation (KAM) and low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) typically indicate heightened defect density; the use of EWF annealing reversed these effects. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed these findings, showing substantial reductions in full width at half maximum (FWHM) values and a realignment of peak positions toward their original states, indicative of stress and defect recovery. To compare the effectiveness of EWF, we also conducted traditional thermal annealing at 250 °C for 7 h, which proved less effective in defect recovery as evidenced by less pronounced improvements in XRD FWHM values.
传统的缺陷恢复方法依赖于高温退火，对于铁铬铝合金而言，退火温度通常超过750°C。在本研究中，我们引入电子风力（EWF）辅助退火作为一种替代方法，以在显著更低的温度下减轻辐照诱导的缺陷。用剂量为10 cm的5 MeV锆离子辐照的铁铬铝合金样品在250°C下使用EWF退火60秒。我们展示了辐照微观结构的显著转变，其中内核平均取向差（KAM）和低角度晶界（LAGB）的显著增加通常表明缺陷密度增加；而使用EWF退火逆转了这些效应。X射线衍射（XRD）证实了这些发现，显示半高宽（FWHM）值大幅降低，且峰位置向其原始状态重新排列，这表明应力和缺陷得到恢复。为了比较EWF的有效性，我们还在250°C下进行了7小时的传统热退火，结果表明其在缺陷恢复方面效果较差，XRD FWHM值的改善不太明显。
