About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Accelerated Qualification Methods for Nuclear Reactor Structural Materials
|
| Presentation Title |
Estimating High-Temperature Mechanical Properties from Micro-Indentation of Proton-Irradiated Stainless Steels |
| Author(s) |
Gokul Obulan Subramanian, Stephen Raiman |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Gokul Obulan Subramanian |
| Abstract Scope |
Prompt screening and qualifications of nuclear materials require datasets such as post-irradiation bulk mechanical properties at reactor-relevant temperatures. Proton irradiation can simulate neutron damage, reproducing the microstructure, mechanical, and corrosion behaviour of stainless steels. However, the damage layer is shallow, making micro-hardness testing indispensable. While many studies correlate room-temperature hardness with mechanical properties, high-temperature correlations are scarce particularly for irradiated materials. In this study, we conducted Berkovich micro-indentation at room temperature, 320 °C, and 340 °C on several austenitic stainless steels in as-received (AR) and proton-irradiated (PI) conditions. Bulk hardness (BH) was obtained from hardness–depth curves. Tensile tests on AR specimens at same temperatures provided yield strength (YS) data for direct BH–YS correlation. For PI specimens, BH is compared with published high-temperature YS of neutron-irradiated materials. The agreement between BH and YS at elevated temperature is assessed, and empirical correlations for estimating YS from high-temperature indentation are proposed. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Mechanical Properties, Other |