Temperature dependence of the radiation-induced hardening of EP-823 steel after 7-MeV Ni++-ion irradiation

Ferritic-martensitic steel 16Kh12MVSFBR (EP-823) is irradiated with 7-MeV Ni⁺⁺ ions to fluences in the range of (2.7–6) × 10²⁰ ion/m² at temperatures of 350–600°C. The obtained temperature dependence of steel hardening after irradiation has a non-monotonic character with a maximum at 380°C. This dependence is determined by changes in the steel microstructure with irradiation temperature and correlates with the known experimental data on neutron irradiation and results of mathematical-statistical simulation using the bootstrap procedure and a neural-network model of changes in the strength properties of 12% chromium steels of the ferritic-martensitic class after neutron irradiation.