Analysis of Ta-rich MX precipitates in RAFs

Tanigawa, Hiroyasu; Sakasegawa, Hideo*   ; Hashimoto, Naoyuki*; Zinkle, S. J.*; Klueh, R. L.*; Koyama, Akira*

Extraction replica samples were prepared from F82H-IEA, F82H HT2, JLF-1 and ORNL9Cr to analyze the precipitate distribution. The samples were examined to obtain precipitate size distribution with TEM and to analyze chemical composition distribution with SEM. Back-scattered electron imaging was found to be the effective way to separate Ta-rich precipitate from other precipitates. Results showed that most of the precipitates were M23C6, and the shape is a round ellipsoid in F82H-IEA and HT2, but was a long ellipsoid in JFL-1 and ORNL9Cr. It was also found that MX precipitates were few and large and contain Ti in F82H-IEA and HT2, but a lot of fine MX precipitates without Ti were observed in JLF-1 and ORNL9Cr.