Kwantitatieve Bepaling Van De Invloed Van Experimenteel Gevonden
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Kwantitatieve bepaling van de invloed van experimenteel gevonden microstructurele veranderingen, geïnduceerd door neutronenstraling, op de hardheid van modellegeringen en staalsoorten Experimental Quantification of the Effect of Neutron Irradiation Induced Microstructural Changes on the Hardening of Model Alloys and Steels Marlies Lambrecht Promotoren: Prof. Dr. Ir. Y. Houbaert en Dr. A. Almazouzi Proefschrift ingediend tot het behalen van de graad van Doctor in de Ingenieurswetenschappen: Materiaalkunde Voorzitter: Prof. Dr. Ir. J. Degrieck Faculteit Ingenieurswetenschappen Academiejaar 2008-2009 ISBN 978-90-8578-294-0 NUR 971 Wettelijk depot: D/2009/10.500/52 Dit onderzoek werd uitgevoerd aan het onderzoekscentrum This research was performed at the research centre Structural Materials (NMA) group Laboratory for medium and high activity (LHMA) Nuclear Materials Science (NMS) Institute SCK•CEN Boeretang 200 2400 Mol Onder begeleiding van Under guidance of Dr. Abderrahim Almazouzi Dr. Lorenzo Malerba In samenwerking met In collaboration with Vakgroep Toegepaste Materiaalwetenschappen Faculteit Toegepaste Wetenschappen Universiteit Gent (UGent) Technologiepark 903 9053 Zwijnaarde Met promotor With promoter Prof. Dr. Ir. Yvan Houbaert Deels gefinancierd door Partially financed by FI60-CT-2003-5088-40 FP6_PERFECT project The European commision Foreword Foreword I really enjoyed realizing this PhD thesis! The results presented in this thesis are the outcome of a fruitful collaboration between the University of Ghent and the research centre SCK•CEN and I was the chosen one to accomplish the work. I hereby had the possibility to combine pleasure with work. The proposal laid within the scope of my interest, as I could approach engineering problems (the hardening and embrittlement of the RPV steels) using fundamental physics (the defects visualized by the positron technique in model alloys). In addition, it allowed me to work in an international environment and in laboratories which earn a great amount of international respect. The subject of the thesis was part of a European project, allowing me to collaborate with other important laboratories in Europe. Moreover, the issue is an important research assignment for countries all over the world. I therefore was able to visit laboratories all over the world, even outside Europe. All these experiences imparted me with a lot of knowledge. The realization of this PhD proved to be much more complex than just "doing research and writing the book". The obtained results needed to be analyzed, discussed and explained. For a successful accomplishment of all these matters, the knowledge, the experience, the thoughts and even just the listening ears and support of a lot of people were needed. I hereby want to thank each and every one of you. At Ghent University, Prof. Dr. Ir. Bruno De Cooman initialized the project at the end of my master, and without him I would never have started this PhD. Unfortunately, he left the university only a few months later, but I was pleased to know that Prof. Dr. Ir. Yvan Houbaert agreed to take over the job of being my promoter. Despite his tight schedule, he was able to make some time for me, when needed. The support of the management of SCK•CEN was also needed for the realization of the project. Therefore, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Eric van Walle, Dr. Leo Sannen, Dr. Ir. Steven Van Dyck and Dr. Rachid Chaouadi. - i - The major part of the work was financed by the FP6-PERFECT project, under the professional leadership of Dr. Jean-Paul Massoud (EDF, Les Renardières, France). The most important man for the realization of the work itself and for the obtained experiences is Dr. Abderrahim Almazouzi (Abdou), co-promoter of the PhD. Already the second week of my PhD, he took me to a PERFECT meeting in Paris, to get acquainted with the subject, as well as to meet important people in the field. It was hard in the beginning; he wanted me to master the subject as soon as possible, in order to follow the demands of the PERFECT project, which was initiated about 2 years before my arrival. But, he believed in me since the very first day. And together, we realized this very fine work. Dr. Lorenzo Malerba, mentor of the PhD, was a great help, especially on scientific matters. The lot of discussions helped me in the understanding of the observed results and his remarks and correction of papers and the thesis led to the publishing of high quality work. Actually, I should thank the whole crew of motivated colleagues at SCK•CEN. Special thanks to Ing. Maarten Jardin, Ing. Yves Parthoens and Ing. Stefan Dekelver for their help with the PAS setup. Concerning my initiation with this setup, I also want to thank Dr. Andrey Rempel. Other people to be mentioned for their help are Marc Eykmans, Willy Claes, Henri Maussen (Rik), Eddy Kox, Kris Kaers, Dirk Quirijnen, Danny Penneman, Roger Mertens, Paul Wouters, Ludo Eysermans, Nancy Van der Borgt and Odette Wouters. Scientific support was given by many others, such as Milan Konstantinovic and Dmitry Terentyev. It was enjoyable to share the office with the other PhD students: Joris Van den Bosch, Giovanni Bonny, Katelijne Verhiest, Xiaoqiang Li, Gunter Coen, Nicolas Castin and Boris Minov. And pleasant distraction was provided during lunch breaks, by among others Ben, Kevin, Frédéric and Wendy. And during the coffee breaks, I made friends among all people of LHMA. A great amount of thanks, I want to send to Prof. Dr. Yasuyoshi Nagai (Yasu). He was not only a great help for me in the positron community, but he also invited me to come to his laboratory in Oarai (Tohoku University, Japan). There, I could perform post-irradiation annealing experiments, using both the PAS and APT technique. Local help was provided by Dr. Takeshi Toyama. - ii - Foreword Another help within the positron community was Prof. Dr. Jan Kuriplach. Also he invited me to his lab in Prague (Charles University, Czech Republic), with the local help of Oksana Melikhova. I learned to work with the APT technique at the University of Rouen (France) with the help of Bertrand Radiguet. And I want to thank Prof. Dr. Philippe Pareige for this opportunity. Also the RPV-2 model was thought to me, and this was done by Gilles Adjanor at EDF (Les Renardières, France). Furthermore, I need to thank all members of the PERFECT community for all discussion that led to the finishing of this PhD thesis. Special thanks to Estelle Meslin (University of Rouen, France), Frank Bergner (FZD, Germany) and Mercedes Hernandez- Mayoral (Merche) (CIEMAT, Spain) for their patience and collaboration in publishing the common results. I should also thank my parents, sister and brothers for everything they taught me and helped me with, in order to get me this far! In addition, I want to thank my friends and family for their support. And finally, I send a big kiss to Peter, for the discussion in the car, for the fact that he read the PhD (although this was rather difficult for him) and for his patience when I was writing this book. Marlies Lambrecht April 2009 - iii - Samenvatting De stralingsgeïnduceerde verharding en verbrossing van kuipstalen (reactor pressure vessel steels of RPV steels) zijn van uiterst belang voor de levensduurbepaling van de nucleaire energiecentrales. Deze centrales zijn al gedurende vele jaren onderhevig aan uitgebreide onderzoeken in het belang van hun behoud. Er is opgemerkt dat de materialen gebruikt voor kuipstalen geneigd zijn om te verbrossen door bestraling. De werkelijke aard van de stralingsschade, verantwoordelijk voor deze verbrossing, blijft nochtans onvatbaar en er is behoefte aan nauwkeurig onderzoek. Stralingsgeïnduceerde verbrossing van RPV staalsoorten is traditioneel toegeschreven aan drie oorzaken: de precipitatie, de matrixschade en de korrelgrens segregatie. Terwijl precipitatie en segregatie al diepgaand bestudeerd zijn, is het nog steeds onduidelijk wat de aard en de voornaamste mechanismes achter de vorming van de matrixschade zijn. De vooruitgang verwezenlijkt in de gevorderde experimentele technieken, zoals transmissie elektronenmicroscopie (TEM), positron annihilatie spectroscopie (PAS), atoom sonde tomografie (atom probe tomography of APT) en kleine hoek neutronenverspreiding (small angle neutron scattering of SANS), maakt het tegenwoordig mogelijk om een diepgaand onderzoek uit te voeren op de nano-elementen geïnduceerd door straling in the RPV staalsoorten. Deze technieken worden gecombineerd gebruikt voor het onderzoek van dezelfde materialen (het "REVE" experiment). In het huidige werk zijn de experimenten, uitgevoerd door PAS, gebruikt voor de interpretatie van de overeenkomstige hardheidsresultaten, verkregen door trektesten, met de hulp van enkele computermodellen en theoretische overwegingen. De resultaten zijn gekwantificeerd en gebruikt in combinatie met de resultaten van de andere technieken om een volledig begrip te verkrijgen van het microstructurele gedrag onder neutronenbestraling. Ten slotte is deze kennis gebruikt om de wisselwerking tussen de gevonden defecten en de stijging van de hardheid te begrijpen in neutronenbestraalde modellegeringen en staalsoorten. - iv - Samenvatting Gedurende de laatste decennia is er een grote vooruitgang gemaakt in het detecteren van vacatureclusters met PAS. De nadruk wordt nu gelegd op de chemische omgeving van de clusters waaraan de positronen gevoelig zijn, om een betere kennis op te bouwen over de aard van de matrixschade. Daardoor zijn er substantiële inspanningen gedaan om deze techniek opnieuw