MICROSTRUCTURES DEVELOPED IN SIMULATED FUSION IRRADIATIONS

Microstructural information is reviewed for irradiation conditions which 'simulate' one or more salient features of the irradiation environment anticipated at first wall and blanket positions in a fusion reactor. The effects of high energy neutron damage from T[d,n], Be[d,n] and 16 MeV proton irradiations, and the effects of simultaneous atom displacement damage and helium and hydrogen production from mixed-spectrum fission reactor and dual-ion irradiation experiments are summarized for a variety of metals. It is shown that observations of microstructural sensitivity to damage rate, irradiation temperature and helium are providing important clues for developing damage resistant structural alloys for fusion reactor appiications. © 1979.