FeCrAl ferritic alloys are excellent cladding candidates for accident tolerant fuel systems due to their high resistance to oxidation as a result of formation of a protective Al₂O₃ scale at high temperatures in steam. In this study, we report the irradiation response of the 10Cr and 13Cr FeCrAl cladding tubes under Fe²⁺ ion irradiation up to ∼16 dpa at 300 °C. Dislocation loop size, density and characteristics were determined using both two-beam bright field transmission electron microscopy and on-zone scanning transmission electron microscopy techniques. 10Cr (C06M2) tube has a lower dislocation density, larger grain size and a slightly weaker texture compared to the 13Cr (C36M3) tube before irradiation. After irradiation to 0.7 dpa and 16 dpa, the fraction of <100> type sessile dislocations decreases with increasing Cr amount in the alloys. It has been found that there is neither void formation nor α′ precipitation as a result of ion irradiations in either alloy. Therefore, dislocation loops were determined to be the only irradiation induced defects contributing to the hardening. Nanoindentation testing before the irradiation revealed that the average nanohardness of the C36M3 tube is higher than that of the C06M2 tube. The average nanohardness of irradiated tube samples saturated at 1.6–2.0 GPa hardening for both tubes between ∼3.4 dpa and ∼16 dpa. The hardening calculated based on transmission electron microscopy was found to be consistent with nanohardness measurements.

FeCrAl铁素体合金由于在高温蒸汽中形成保护性的Al ₂ O ₃水垢而具有很高的抗氧化性，因此是耐事故燃料系统的极佳熔覆候选材料。在这项研究中，我们报告了Fe ²⁺下10Cr和13Cr FeCrAl熔覆管的辐照响应在300°C时离子辐照高达〜16 dpa。位错环的大小，密度和特性使用两束明场透射电子显微镜和区域扫描透射电子显微镜技术确定。与辐照前的13Cr（C36M3）管相比，10Cr（C06M2）管具有较低的位错密度，较大的晶粒尺寸和稍弱的织构。辐照至0.7 dpa和16 dpa后，<100>型固晶位错分数随合金中Cr含量的增加而降低。已经发现，由于在任何一种合金中的离子辐照都没有空隙形成或α'沉淀。因此，位错环被确定为唯一的辐射诱导的导致硬化的缺陷。辐照前的纳米压痕测试表明，C36M3管的平均纳米硬度高于C06M2管的平均纳米硬度。两种管的辐照管样品的平均纳米硬度均在1.6-2.0 GPa的硬化下饱和，在〜3.4 dpa至〜16 dpa之间。发现基于透射电子显微镜计算的硬化与纳米硬度测量值一致。