Radiation damage of lithium ceramics by ion bombardment

Abstract

Lithium compounds are being considered as fusion reactor breeder blanket ceramics. The present studies will examine the stability of the Li-compounds to radiation damage effects, and to the formation of non-crystalline phases. Ion bombardment studies have been carried out to determine damage cross-sections of the crystal structures of Li 2SiO 3, Li 2ZrO 3 to 7 MeV Si ions. Monolayers of fine powders, less than 5 μ particle size, are examined by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy before and after irradiation. The lithium compounds damage readily becoming largely non-crystalline by 4 ions/nm 2 with damage cross-sections of 0.8 ± 0.1 nm 2 for Li 2SiO 3 and 0.66 + 0.05 nm 2 for Li 2ZrO 3. By contrast, Li 2O has a fluorite structure and is expected to remain crystalline.