State of beryllium after irradiation at low temperature up to extremely high neutron doses

A study was made for four beryllium grades manufactured in Russia by hot extrusion (HE) and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) methods. Irradiation of specimens in the SM-3 reactor at a temperature of 70 °C up to a neutron fluence of (0.6–11.1) × 10 22 cm −2 ( E>0.1 eV) was performed and followed by post irradiation examination. The obtained results do not provide evidence of the advantage of one beryllium grade over another in terms of resistance to radiation damage in the fission reactor. In particular, neutron irradiation leads to absolutely brittle failure of all investigated beryllium specimens, according to the results of mechanical tensile and compression tests. Swelling of all grades at the maximum neutron dose does not exceed 1–2%. Some difference among the irradiated beryllium grades becomes apparent only in the brittle strength level.