| Abstract: | Microstructure and phase composition of iron-based alloys with 0.1 to 0.7% carbon are studied upon irradiation of the latter by α-particles followed by annealing at temperatures higher than those of the polymorphic α-γ-transformation. This treatment is shown to bring about irreversible phase and structural changes of the ferrite-pearlite structural components and grain size resulting in a higher microhardness in the areas saturated with helium. Based on calculations by the theory of elasticity of stress fields generated by the implanted helium atoms, it is shown that these microstructural changes are caused by deformations induced by helium present in the region of α-particle deceleration. Nuclear Physics Institute of the National Nuclear Center, the Republic of Kazakhstan. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 6, pp. 14–18, June, 1999. |
