Chris Hardie

Profile Information
Name
Chris Hardie
Institution
UK Atomic Energy Authority
Position
Dr
Publications:
"Mechanical properties and plasticity size effect of Fe-6%Cr irradiated by Fe ions and by neutrons" G. Robert Odette, Chris Hardie, Shavkat Akhmadaliev, Steve Roberts, Y Wu, Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 482 2016 236-247 Link
The mechanical behaviour of Fe6%Cr in the un-irradiated, self-ion irradiated and neutron irradiated conditions was measured and compared. Irradiations were performed to the same dose and at the same temperature but to very different damage rates for both methods. The materials were tested using nanoindentation and micromechanical testing, and compared with microstructural observations from Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Atom Probe Tomography (APT) reported elsewhere. Irradiated and un-irradiated micro-cantilevers with a wide range of dimensions were used to study the interrelationships between irradiation hardening and size effects in small-scale plasticity. TEM and APT results identified that the dislocation loop densities were ∼2.9 × 1022m−3 for the neutron irradiated material and only 1.4 × 1022m−3 for the ion irradiated material. Cr segregation to loops was only found for the neutron-irradiated material. The nanoindentation hardness increase due to neutron irradiation was 3 GPa and that due to ion irradiation 1 GPa. The differences between the effects of the two irradiation types are discussed, taking into account inconsistencies in damage calculations, and the differences in PKA spectra, dose rate and transmutation products for the two irradiation types.
"Using spherical indentation to measure the strength of copper-chromium-zirconium" Przemyslaw Klups, Alexandra Cackett, Joven Lim, Andy J. Bushby, Chris Hardie, Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 511 2018 610-3115 Link
Precipitation hardened CuCrZr will be used in heat-sink components in the ITER tokomak and is a primary candidate for EU DEMO. The measurement of mechanical properties of irradiated CuCrZr using conventional, standardised techniques is difficult due to the challenges involved in working with radioactive material and the relatively large specimen size required. Spherical nano-indentation offers a technique to measure stress-strain properties from far smaller volumes than conventional tests. In this work, CuCrZr has been heat-treated at different temperatures to vary the Cr precipitate size and spacing. Spherical nano-indentation using multiple tip radii was then used to produce stress-strain curves for all samples, from which values of initial flow stress were calculated. It was found that there was a strong indentation size effect (ISE) in the stress required to initiate plasticity, however at higher indentation strains the flow stress became constant for tip radii, R, ≥8 μm. This suggests that at the initiation of plastic deformation the ISE is dominated by dislocation source activation but in later stages the interaction with microstructural material length-scales dominate the measured mechanical strength. The mechanical response of these small-scale tests is governed by multiple mechanisms, which convolute interpretation of data and must be considered when measuring the effects of irradiation on the mechanical properties.