The Microstructure of Laser Welded V-4Cr-4Ti Alloy after Ion Irradiation

Laser welded high purity V-4Cr-4Ti alloy (NIFS-HEAT2), fabricated by National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), was used for this study. Copper ion irradiation was carried out with the tandem accelerator at Kyushu University. The TEM samples were sliced from the welded materials and irradiated at 573 and 873K up to the dose of 12 dpa. The microstructure before irradiation showed that relatively large precipitates, which were commonly observed in NIFS-HEAT2, disappeared in the center of the weld metal. After the ion irradiation, fine titanium oxides with {100} habit planes were detected even at the dose of 0.75 dpa. However, less number density of these oxides were observed in the base metal after the same irradiation conditions. This means that the behaviors of oxygen atoms, which dissolved from the large precipitates during the laser welding, is essential to the microstructural evolution of welded V-4Cr-4Ti alloys.