Postirradiation Creep of Annealed Type 316 Stainless Steel

The effects of fast reactor irradiation on the creep behavior of annealed Type 316 stainless steel were reviewed and the interrelation between creep response and irradiation-induced microstructure development was analyzed. The effects of neutron fluence, irradiation temperature, and test temperature on creep response were studied using illustrative examples. The results indicate that use of creep data from unirradiated specimens for design purposes over estimates strain expected during irradiation, except when a component is stressed at low temperature following high temperature irradiation.