Low void swelling in dispersion strengthened copper alloys under single-ion irradiation

Oxide dispersion strengthened copper (ODS-Cu) alloys GlidCop CuAl15 and CuAl25 were irradiated with Cu²⁺ ions at 573-773 K up to doses of 30 dpa. Void swelling was observed in all specimens irradiated at temperatures ranging from 573 to 673 K. In CuAl15 brazed with graphite at 1083 K, mean grain size was about 800 nm. Voids were observed in grains larger than 1 μm but not in smaller than 500 nm in diameter. The CuAl25 joined with SUS316 by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) at 1323 K had a mean grain size of 60 μm because of a large grain growth during the HIP process and showed large void swelling. Small grain size is effective in suppressing void swelling due to strong sink effects of grain boundaries for the point defects. The present results indicate that joining at high temperatures may reduce the void swelling resistance of GlidCop copper alloys.