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During the up and down cycles of a fusion reactor, the first wall is exposed concomitantly to a flux of energetic neutrons that generates radiation defects and to a thermal flux that induces thermal stresses. The resulting strains may exceed the elastic limit and induce plastic deformation in the material. A similar situation occurs in the window of a spallation liquid source target and results in the same type of damage. This particular loading has been simulated in F82H ferritic-martensitic steel, using a device allowing a fatigue test to be carried out during irradiation with 590 MeV protons. All fatigue tests were carried out in a strain controlled test at strain levels around 0.8% and at 300 degreesC. Two different signals have been used: a fully symmetrical triangle wave signal (R = -1) and a triangle ramp with 2 min tension holds. The fatigue was investigated under three different conditions: unirradiated, irradiated and post-irradiation tested, and finally in-beam tested. The main result is that the in-beam tested specimens have the lowest life as compared to the post-irradiation tested specimen and unirradiated specimen. Hydrogen is suspected to be the main contributor to the observed embrittlement. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Eugen Brühwiler, Emmanuel Denarié, Jian Zhan
Eugen Brühwiler, Bartlomiej Wojciech Sawicki, Antoine Bassil
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