Evaluation of corrosion behavior on ion irradiated stainless steel using AFM

Nemoto, Yoshiyuki  ; Miwa, Yukio; Kaji, Yoshiyuki  ; Tsuji, Hirokazu; Tsukada, Takashi 

The aim of this work is to evaluate corrosion behavior of irradiated materials for mechanistic understanding of irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC). Solution annealed high purity Fe-18Cr-12Ni specimens were used in this study. H and He were implanted during irradiation with 12MeV Ni ion at 573K and 673K. After corrosion procedure, the specimens were examined with atomic force microscope (AFM) to evaluate corrosion behavior. It was shown that the corroded volume of irradiated area increased with radiation damage. H implantation at lower temperature accelerated corrosion, but H implantation at higher temperature did not accelerate corrosion. He implantation suppressed corrosion, and corroded volume was larger for the specimens irradiated at 673K than these at 573K. It is suggested from this study that implantations of H and He affect the passivating behavior of Ni ion irradiated alloy.