In situ micro-tensile testing on proton beam-irradiated stainless steel

Small-scale mechanical testing techniques are currently being explored and developed for engineering applications. In particular, micro-tensile testing can add tremendous value, since the entire stress-strain curve, including the strain to failure, can be measured directly. In this work, 304 stainless steel specimens irradiated with 2 MeV protons to 10 dpa (full-cascade setting in the Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter, SRIM, software) at 360 °C was evaluated using micro-tensile testing. It was found that even on the micron scale, the measured strain corresponds well with macroscopic expectations. In addition, a new approach to analyzing sudden slip events is presented.