Study of the Mechanisms of Radiation Softening and Swelling upon Irradiation of TiTaNbV Alloys with He2+ Ions with an Energy of 40 keV

Materials (Basel). 2023 May 28;16(11):4031. doi: 10.3390/ma16114031.

Abstract

This paper presents simulation results of the ionization losses of incident He2+ ions with an energy of 40 keV during the passage of incident ions in the near-surface layer of alloys based on TiTaNbV with a variation of alloy components. For comparison, data on the ionization losses of incident He2+ ions in pure niobium, followed by the addition of vanadium, tantalum, and titanium to the alloy in equal stoichiometric proportions, are presented. With the use of indentation methods, the dependences of the change in the strength properties of the near-surface layer of alloys were determined. It was established that the addition of Ti to the composition of the alloy leads to an increase in resistance to crack resistance under high-dose irradiation, as well as a decrease in the degree of swelling of the near-surface layer. During tests on the thermal stability of irradiated samples, it was found that swelling and degradation of the near-surface layer of pure niobium affects the rate of oxidation and subsequent degradation, while for high-entropy alloys, an increase in the number of alloy components leads to an increase in resistance to destruction.

Keywords: hardness; helium swelling; high entropy alloys; radiation embrittlement; swelling.