Effect of dose on irradiation-induced loop density and Burgers vector in ion-irradiated ferritic/martensitic steel HT9

Samples of F/M steel HT9 were irradiated to 20?dpa at 420°C, 440°C and 470°C in a transmission electron microscope with 1?MeV Kr ions so that the microstructure evolution could be followed in situ and characterised as a function of dose. Dynamic observations of irradiation-induced defect formation and evolution were made at the different temperatures. Irradiation-induced loops were characterised in terms of their Burgers vector, size and density as a function of dose and similar observations and trends were found at the three temperatures: (i) both a/2 <111> and a <100> loops are observed; (ii) in the early stage of irradiation, the density of irradiation-induced loops increases with dose (0–4?dpa) and then decreases at higher doses (above 4?dpa), (iii) the dislocation line density shows an inverse trend to the loop density with increasing dose: in the early stages of irradiation, the pre-existing dislocation lines are lost by climb to the surfaces while at higher doses (above 4?dpa), the build-up of new dislocation networks is observed along with the loss of the radiation-induced dislocation loops to dislocation networks; (iv) at higher doses, the decrease of number of loops affects more the a/2 <111> loop population; the possible loss mechanisms of the a/2 <111> loops are discussed. Also, the ratio of a <100> to a/2 <111> loops is found to be similar to cases of bulk irradiation of the same alloy using 5?MeV Fe²⁺ ions to similar doses of 20?dpa at similar temperatures.