Swift heavy ion irradiation of zirconium phosphate of various forms

Abstract

The zirconium phosphate and its various derivatives have good resistance against ionization radiation, as it was found earlier during the irradiation of them with γ-rays of high energy. Continuing these experiments amorphous and crystalline (both α- and γ-forms) zirconium phosphate, its monosodium, and propylamine intercalated forms were irradiated with a fluence of 10 11–10 14 ion cm −2 with swift heavy ions of 203Bi and 84Kr. The irradiation was also performed with Si containing zirconium phosphate. The structure of the materials was characterized by XRD method. The comparison of the powder diffraction patterns reveals that the irradiation has practically no effect on the α-zirconium phosphate, while the other materials more or less destroyed and some of them became amorphous. The propylamine intercalate form of zirconium phosphate is decomposed on α-ZrP and organic radical.