TEM Characterization of High Dose Ion Irradiated MA956 ODS Alloy

Based on the TEM characterization, it is found that the number density of oxide particles did not significantly change after ion irradiation, but the particle size reduced slightly. In addition, ion irradiation caused defects evolution within the material, i.e., both dislocation lines and loops formed after ion irradiation. While the dislocation lines are almost uniformly distributed within the irradiation region, dislocation loops show an uneven distribution. They have the highest, a relatively high and the lowest number densities in 1000-1300 nm, 0-500 nm and 500-1000 nm irradiation depth regions, respectively. Ion irradiation process induced dislocation lines and dislocation loops resulted in the nanoindentation hardness increment of the material.