Studies on formation and structures of ultrafine Cu precipitates in Fe-Cu model alloys for reactor pressure vessel steels using positron quantum dot confinement in the precipitates by their positron affinity. JAERI's nuclear research promotion program, H11-034 (Contract research)

Positron annihilation experiments on Fe-Cu model dilute alloys of nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels have been performed after neutron irradiation in JMTR. Nanovoids whose inner surfaces were covered by Cu atoms were clearly observed. The nanovoids transformed to ultrafine Cu precipitates by dissociating their vacancies after annealing at around 400degC. The nanovoids and the ultrafine Cu precipitates are strongly suggested to be responsible for irradiation-induced embrittlement of RPV steels. Effects of Ni, Mn and P addition on the nanovoid and Cu precipitate formations were also studied. The nanovoid formation was enhanced by Ni and P, but suppressed by Mn. The Cu precipitates after annealing around 400degC were almost free from these doping elements and hence were pure Cu in the chemical composition. Furthermore the Fermi surface of the 'embedded' Cu precipitates with a body centered cubic crystal structure was obtained from two dimensional angular correlation of annihilation radiation (2D-ACAR) in a Fe-Cu single crystal and was agreed well with that from a band structure calculation. Theoretical calculation of positron confinement in Fe-Cu model alloys showed that a positron quantum dot state induced by positron affinity is attained for the embedded precipitates larger than 1 nm. A new position sensitive detector with a function of one dimensional angular correlation of annihilation radiation (1D-ACAR) has been developed that enables high resolution experiments over wide ranges of momentum distribution.