Thermal effects in ion irradiated Ti2AlC and Ti3SiC2

Abstract

Abstract Structural materials in nuclear systems endure a harsh environment, like high temperature, high stress and intense radiation fluxes. MAX phases have been suggested for advanced nuclear reactor applications due to their excellent irradiation tolerance, especially in high temperature irradiation. To better understand the mechanisms of irradiation tolerance of MAX phases and the evolution of defects in high temperature irradiation, herein, we irradiated Ti 2 AlC and Ti 3 SiC 2 with 3 MeV Au ions at 25 °C, 360 °C and 700 °C to a dose of 1.5 × 10 16 cm −2 , and then thermal annealing at 360 °C and 700 °C were performed for samples irradiated at room temperature to study the defect kinetics. Raman spectrum, GIXRD and TEM were used to characterize microstructural evolution. Our results show that high temperature irradiation causes less damage than room temperature irradiation does in both materials. Fewer defects were produced in Ti 3 SiC 2 than that in Ti 2 AlC during high temperature irradiation. And Ti 2 AlC has a higher defect recovery efficiency than Ti 3 SiC 2 when annealed at high temperature.