Abstract
Radiation damage tolerance for a variety of ceramics at high temperatures depends on the material’s resistance to nucleation and growth of extended defects. Such processes are prevalent in ceramics employed for space, nuclear fission/fusion and nuclear waste environments. This report shows that random heterointerfaces in materials with sub-micron grains can act as highly efficient sinks for point defects compared to grain boundaries in single-phase materials. The concentration of dislocation loops in a radiation damage-prone phase (Al2O3) is significantly reduced when Al2O3 is a component of a composite system as opposed to a single-phase system. These results present a novel method for designing exceptionally radiation damage tolerant ceramics at high temperatures with a stable grain size, without requiring extensive interfacial engineering or production of nanocrystalline materials.
Highlights
Ceramics used in nuclear energy related applications experience extreme conditions of radiation and high temperatures
A fine grain size is expected to increase the radiation damage tolerance in polycrystalline materials since point defects generated during irradiation have only a short diffusion distance to reach grain boundaries that serve as sinks
This current research was sparked by the idea of using additional phases to increase the thermal conductivity of nuclear fuel, following the concept developed for inert matrix nuclear fuel using UO2 as a fissile component and a ceramic matrix phase to promote structural integrity[13]
Summary
Ceramics used in nuclear energy related applications experience extreme conditions of radiation and high temperatures. A fine grain size is expected to increase the radiation damage tolerance in polycrystalline materials since point defects generated during irradiation have only a short diffusion distance to reach grain boundaries that serve as sinks.
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