Mechanical testing data from neutron irradiations of PM-HIP and conventionally manufactured nuclear structural alloys

Data Brief. 2023 Mar 25:48:109092. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2023.109092. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Abstract

This article presents the comprehensive mechanical testing data archive from a neutron irradiation campaign of nuclear structural alloys fabricated by powder metallurgy with hot isostatic pressing (PM-HIP). The irradiation campaign was designed to facilitate a direct comparison of PM-HIP to conventional casting or forging. Five common nuclear structural alloys were included in the campaign: 316L stainless steel, SA508 pressure vessel steel, Grade 91 ferritic steel, and Ni-base alloys 625 and 690. Irradiations were carried out in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to target doses of 1 and 3 displacements per atom (dpa) at target temperatures of 300 and 400 °C. This article contains the data collected from post-irradiation uniaxial tensile tests following ASTM E8 specifications, fractography of these tensile bars, and nanoindentation. By making this systematic and valuable neutron irradiated mechanical behavior dataset openly available to the nuclear materials research community, researchers may now use this data to populate material performance databases, validate material performance and hardening models, design follow-on experiments, and enable future nuclear code-qualification of PM-HIP techniques.

Keywords: Austenitic stainless steel; Ferritic/martensitic steel; Fractography; Irradiation effects; Low alloy steel; Nanoindentation; Ni alloys; Tensile testing.