About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Steels in Extreme Conditions
|
| Presentation Title |
Development of an In Situ Ion Irradiation Mechanical Testing Facility
for the Testing of Steels Under Coupled Extreme Environments
|
| Author(s) |
Charles A. Hirst, Smeet Patel, Wyatt Peterson, Mackenzie Warwick, Kevin Field |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Charles A. Hirst |
| Abstract Scope |
Steels in advanced nuclear reactors will be subject to extreme combinations of radiation damage, elevated temperature, and applied stress. Currently, alloys are evaluated by irradiating them at elevated temperature, without any mechanical load, before cooling and subsequent ex situ mechanical testing. This strategy may not accurately reflect the conditions experienced in service, and may lead to different deformation mechanisms being observed during testing. To address this discrepancy, an in situ ion irradiation mechanical testing (I3MT) facility is being developed at the UW Ion Beam Laboratory. This talk will present an overview of the I3MT design and preliminary results including temperature gradient mechanical testing of 304SS. These tests will benchmark the I3MT facility and demonstrate the ability to subject specimens to conditions that more accurately emulate environments in-service. This will enable determination of the underlying degradation mechanisms and will thus accelerate steel development. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Environmental Effects, Characterization |