Low cycle fatigue behaviour of neutron irradiated copper alloys at 250 and 350 deg. C

The fatique behaviour of a dispersion strengthened and a precipitation hardened copper alloys was investigated with and without irradiation exposure. Fatigue specimens of these alloys were irradiated with fission neutrons in the DR-3 reactor at Risø witha flux of approx2.5 x 1017 n/m2s (E> 1 MeV) to influence levels of 1.0 - 1.5 x 1024 n/m2 (E> 1 MeV) at 250 and 350 deg. C. These irradiations were carried out in temperature controlled rigs where the irradiation temperature was monitored and controlledcontinuously throughout the whole irradiation experiment. Both unirradiated and irradiated speciments were fatigue tested in vacuum at the irradiation temperatures of 250 and 350 deg. C in a strain controlled mode with a loading frequency of 0.5Hz.Post-fatigue microstructures were examined using transmission electron microscopy and the fracture surfaces were investigated using scanning electron microscope. The present investigations demonstrated that the fatigue life decreases with increasingtemperature and that the exposure to neutron irradiation causes further degradation in fatigue life at both temperatures. These results are discussed in terms of the observed post-fatigue microstructures and the fracture surface morphology. Finally, themain conclusions and their implications are summarised.