Abstract
Although there have been many in-reactor experiments of nuclear graphite in history, its microstructure evolution during irradiation have not been well studied. One filler particle within nuclear graphite was investigated during ion irradiation. Remarkable dimensional changes and distortion of graphite filler were observed. Different from the well-known Mrozowski crack, cracks formed by graphite sheets fracture were found in filler and showed continuous opening during irradiation, resulting in porosity increase and decline in integrity of nuclear graphite. But evidences show that these cracks did not grow along the c-axis, indicating a strong resistance to irradiation-induced fracture of un-fractured graphite sheets. Although the dimensional evolution of graphite crystallite continues at the highest dose of 10 dpa, the Raman spectra showed that the structure of damaged graphite lattice became very stable at doses above 0.84 dpa during room-temperature irradiation.
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