neutron diffraction revealing the achievement of excellent combination of strength and ductility in metastable austenitic steel by grain refinement

Mao, W.; Gong, W.; Harjo, S.; Morooka, Satoshi; Gao, S.*; Kawasaki, Takuro; Tsuji, Nobuhiro*

Journal of Materials Science & Technology, 176, p.69 - 82, 2024/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmst.2023.07.036

The yield stress of Fe-24Ni-0.3C (wt.%) metastable austenitic steel increased 3.5 times (158 551 MPa) when the average grain size decreased from 35 m (coarse-grained [CG]) to 0.5 m (ultrafine-grained [UFG]), whereas the tensile elongation was kept large (0.87 0.82). neutron diffraction measurements of the CG and UFG Fe-24Ni-0.3C steels were performed during tensile deformation at room temperature to quantitatively elucidate the influence of grain size on the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms. The initial stages of plastic deformation in the CG and UFG samples were dominated by dislocation slip, with deformation-induced martensitic transformation (DIMT) also occurring in the later stage of deformation. Results show that grain refinement increases the initiation stress of DIMT largely and suppresses the rate of DIMT concerning the strain, which is attributed to the following effects. (i) Grain refinement increased the stabilization of austenite and considerably delayed the initiation of DIMT in the 111//LD (LD: loading direction) austenite grains, which were the most stable grains for DIMT. As a result, most of the 111//LD austenite grains in the UFG specimens failed to transform into martensite. (ii) Grain refinement also suppressed the autocatalytic effect of the martensitic transformation. Nevertheless, the DIMT with the low transformation rate in the UFG specimen was more efficient in increasing the flow stress and more appropriate to maintain uniform deformation than that in the CG specimen during deformation. The above phenomena mutually contributed to the excellent combination of strength and ductility of the UFG metastable austenitic steel.

Quantitatively evaluating the huge Lders band deformation in an ultrafine grain stainless steel by combining neutron diffraction and digital image correlation analysis

Mao, W.; Gao, S.*; Gong, W.; Harjo, S.; Kawasaki, Takuro; Tsuji, Nobuhiro*

Scripta Materialia, 235, p.115642_1 - 115642_6, 2023/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2023.115642

In the present study, a hybrid neutron diffraction and digital image correlation measurement was performed on tensile deformation of an ultrafine grain (UFG) stainless steel exhibiting a huge Lders band deformation to evaluate the individual contribution of the austenite matrix and the deformation-induced martensite to the strain hardening during the propagation of the band. Quantitative analysis revealed that the strain hardening of the austenite matrix was insufficient to maintain a uniform deformation when the flow stress was greatly enhanced by the UFG structure. The strain hardening required for the Lders band to propagate was mostly provided by the formation of martensite and the high internal stress within it.

Local atomic displacements and sign of the structural transformation in medium-entropy alloys observed in extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectra

Ikeda, Yoichi*; Umemoto, Yoshihiko*; Matsumura, Daiju; Tsuji, Takuya; Hashimoto, Yuki*; Kitazawa, Takafumi*; Fujita, Masaki*

Materials Transactions, 64(9), p.2254 - 2260, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.2320/matertrans.MT-M2023043

Lattice parameters of austenite and martensite during transformation for Fe-18Ni alloy investigated through neutron diffraction

Gong, W.; Harjo, S.; Tomota, Yo*; Morooka, Satoshi; Kawasaki, Takuro; Shibata, Akinobu*; Tsuji, Nobuhiro*

Acta Materialia, 250, p.118860_1 - 118860_16, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.118860

The Report on "study meetings about the ICRP Internal Dosimetry"

Nakajima, Junya; Hirota, Seiko*; Tsuji, Tomoya; Watanabe, Yuki; Sakoda, Akihiro; Kobayashi, Noriko*

Hoken Butsuri (Internet), 58(1), p.13 - 20, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.5453/jhps.58.13

no abstracts in English

Unexpected dynamic transformation from phase to phase in zirconium alloy revealed by in-situ neutron diffraction during high temperature deformation

Guo, B.*; Mao, W.; Chong, Y.*; Shibata, Akinobu*; Harjo, S.; Gong, W.; Chen, H.*; Jonas, J. J.*; Tsuji, Nobuhiro*

Acta Materialia, 242, p.118427_1 - 118427_11, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.118427

Application of high-energy-resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the U L-edge to assess the U(V) electronic structure in FeUO

Yomogida, Takumi; Akiyama, Daisuke*; Ouchi, Kazuki; Kumagai, Yuta; Higashi, Kotaro*; Kitatsuji, Yoshihiro; Kirishima, Akira*; Kawamura, Naomi*; Takahashi, Yoshio*

Inorganic Chemistry, 61(50), p.20206 - 20210, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c03208

FeUO was studied to clarify the electronic structure of U(V) in a metal monouranate compound. We obtained the peak splitting of HERFD-XANES spectra utilizing high-energy-resolution fluorescence detection-X-ray absorption near edge structure (HERFD-XANES) spectroscopy at the U L-edge, which is a novel technique in the U(V) compounds. Theoretical calculations revealed that the peak splitting was caused by splitting the 6d orbital of U(V). Such distinctive electronic states are of major interest to researchers and engineers working in various fields, from fundamental physics to the nuclear industry and environmental sciences for actinide elements.

Rediscovery of Hall-Petch strengthening in bulk ultrafine grained pure Mg at cryogenic temperature; A Combined neutron diffraction and electron microscopy study

Zheng, R.*; Gong, W.; Du, J.-P.*; Gao, S.*; Liu, M.*; Li, G.*; Kawasaki, Takuro; Harjo, S.; Ma, C.*; Ogata, Shigenobu*; et al.

Acta Materialia, 238, p.118243_1 - 118243_15, 2022/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.118243

Investigation on natural circulation behavior for decay heat removal in reactor vessel of sodium-cooled fast reactor under severe accident condition, 1; Effect of decay-heat conditions on natural circulation behavior under dipped-type DHX operation conditions

Tsuji, Mitsuyo; Aizawa, Kosuke; Kobayashi, Jun; Kurihara, Akikazu

Proceedings of 12th Japan-Korea Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS12) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2022/10

In sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs), decay heat removal after a core disruptive accident (CDA) is an important issue for the safety enhancement. Therefore, water experiments using a 1/10 scale experimental apparatus (PHEASANT) that simulates the reactor vessel of an SFR are conducted to investigate the natural circulation phenomena in the reactor vessel. In this study, experiments under the operation of the dipped-type DHX were conducted to investigate the effect of the heat generation ratio between the fuel debris on the core catcher in lower plenum and the reactor core remnant on the natural circulation behavior in the reactor vessel. The temperature distribution and the velocity distribution were measured under two heat generation conditions. Thus, the effect of the heat generation ratio between the fuel debris in the lower plenum and the reactor core remnant on the natural circulation behavior was quantitatively grasped under the dipped-type DHX operating conditions.

Watershed-geochemical model to simulate dissolved and particulate Cs discharge from a forested catchment

Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Hayashi, Seiji*; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Kurikami, Hiroshi; Malins, A.; Funaki, Hironori; Tsuji, Hideki*; Kobayashi, Takamaru*; Kitamura, Akihiro; Iijima, Kazuki

Water Resources Research, 58(8), p.e2021WR031181_1 - e2021WR031181_16, 2022/08

https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR031181