FeCrAl is regarded as one of the most promising cladding materials for accident-tolerant fuel at nuclear fission reactors due to its comprehensive properties of inherent corrosion resistance, excellent irradiation resistance, high-temperature oxidation resistance, and stress corrosion cracking resistance. In this work, the irradiation response of FeCrAl irradiated by 2.4 MeV He²⁺ ions with a fluence of 1.1 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻² at room temperature was studied using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and nanoindentation. The characterization results of structural and mechanical properties showed that only black-dot defects exist in irradiated FeCrAl samples, and that the hardness of the irradiated samples was 11.5% higher than that of the unirradiated samples. Similar to other types of radiation defects, black-dot defects acted as fixed defect obstacles and hindered the movement of slip dislocations moving under the applied load, resulting in a significant increase in the hardness of FeCrAl. Importantly, this work points out that irradiation-induced black-dot defects can significantly affect the mechanical properties of materials, and that their contribution to radiation hardening cannot be ignored.

To optimize the design of silicon carbide (SiC) devices for applications in space and nuclear environments, this work introduces varying degrees of lattice damage into SiC through controlled irradiation conditions, with Raman spectroscopy revealing its damage evolution behavior and quantitatively characterizing the increasing trend of disorder with irradiation fluences. Fine analysis of the A₁(LO) phonon mode demonstrates that proliferation of irradiation-induced acceptor centers and accumulation of scattering defects lead to significant attenuation of carrier concentration and mobility (cross-verified by Hall effect measurements), thereby causing degradation in electrical conductivity of SiC. Subsequent electrical testing confirms an orders-of-magnitude reduction in conductivity, establishing a quantitative correlation model with total disorder quantified by the DI/DS model. The non-destructive Raman technique enables simultaneous acquisition of material damage characteristics and quantitative electrical performance degradation, providing a predictive framework for the evolution of electrical behavior for SiC under irradiation damage, with significant implications for optimizing irradiation-hardened device designs.