NEUTRON-INDUCED CHANGES IN DENSITY AND ELECTRICAL-CONDUCTIVITY OF COPPER-ALLOYS AT 16 TO 98 DPA AND 430-DEGREES-C

An irradiation experiment on copper alloys in the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) at 430-degrees-C has been completed. Four exposure levels were reached with the maximum at 98 dpa. Immersion density measurements of a wide variety of copper alloys show swelling values ranging from 1 to 64% at 98 dpa. Copper that is dispersion-strengthened with 0.25% Al2O3 (designated Al25) appears to be the most swelling resistant and promising high conductivity alloy. The steady-state swelling rate of relatively simple copper alloys was found to be approximately 0.5%/dpa at 430-degrees-C. Both the swelling and conductivity changes of the pure copper reference alloy were found to be very reproducible.