High temperature stability of dispersion strengthened copper alloys irradiated with fast neutrons

Two heavily cold-worked dispersion strengthened copper alloys, GlidCop™ CuA125 and GlidCop™-Nb, were irradiated at three different conditions to study their response to high temperature neutron irradiation. The results revealed that the GlidCop™-Nb possesses a greater resistance to irradiation-induced changes in the mechanical properties than GlidCop™ CuA125. Although the CuA125 exhibited significant decreases in ultimate strength and increases in elongation, the minimum strength was still higher than that of unirradiated as-wrought CuA125. For all of the alloys the changes in mechanical properties were independent of displacement rate and temperature.