Post-irradiation annealing experiments were used to study the recovery of microstructure and mechanical properties in V-Cr-Ti and V-Fe-Ti alloys irradiated at 228C to 4dpa. After 500C post irradiation annealing, dislocation channelling occurred at deformed areas in tensile specimens and a significant loss of ductility resulted. During post-irradiation annealing at above 600C, recovery of the damage structure and tensile properties occurred and irradiation hardening completely disappeared in V-3Fe-4Ti-0.1Si. Clear dislocation channels could be seen, mainly in deformed areas of specimens, reflecting a significant loss of ductility. However, a pile-up of dislocations in channels was observed at a grain boundary where the channel did not penetrate into the adjacent grain. It was assumed that defect clusters were absorbed by mobile dislocations and that no debris or segments of defect clusters were left in clear channels of body-centred cubic metals and alloys under post-irradiation deformation.

Features of Dislocation Channeling in Neutron-Irradiated V-(Fe, Cr)-Ti Alloy. K.Fukumoto, M.Sugiyama, H.Matsui: Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2007, 367-370[1], 829-33