Helium Behavior in Vanadium-Based Alloys Irradiated in the Dynamic Helium Charging Experiments

Helium effect of neutron irradiated vanadium alloys, containing titanium, has been studied using Dynamic Helium Charging Experiment (DHCE) in FFTF. Cavity formation was observed only in pure vanadium irradiated at 430 to 600℃ and in V-5Ti irradiated at 600℃. No apparent cavity formation was obtained in V-3Ti-1Si and V-4Cr-4Ti. The precipitation of titanium oxide in V-5Ti, V-3Ti-1Si and V-4Cr-4Ti occurred in all irradiation conditions in this study and the precipitates of Ti_5Si_3 only appeared in V-3Ti-1Si irradiated at 600℃ up to 15 dpa with helium generation rate of 4 appmHe/dpa. It is suggested that titanium oxide plays an important role for suppression of cavity formation and swelling from early stage of irradiation. Detail characterization of precipitates and He effect for neutron damages in vanadium alloys are discussed here