NSUF 10-231: Synchrotron XRD and XAFS study of Irradiated Binary Carbides.

There have been few applications of synchrotron radiation techniques to the study of irradiated materials of interest to the nuclear energy community. In order to improve the current state of understanding of radiation damage, we propose to study binary compounds from the PIE Sample Library. The binary compounds that are currently available through the irradiated sample library at ATR are ZrC, TiC, TiN, ZrN, AlN, and SiC. These compounds are ceramics that can be used as fuel claddings. They can also be precipitates in structural materials. In either case, it will be important to understand structural changes in these materials as a function of radiation dose. This sequence of samples will allow us to understand how simple changes in Z (changing C to N) affect the observed radiation damage. We propose to study the radiation damage in these materials using x-ray diffraction and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction is sensitive to the changes in long range order in a material. X-ray absorption spectroscopy is sensitive to changes in the local atomic structure of a material. We believe that we will be able to better understand the mechanism of radiation damage in these potential cladding materials. By studying these simple binary compounds, we will also be able to better build a base for exploring radiation damage in the more complex alloys in the future. We believe that understanding the observed radiation damage in simple systems will make it easier to understand the observations in more complex alloys. It should be fairly straightforward to analyze the binary compounds and the goal is to have this data analyzed quickly. To provide a base for further exploration, we propose to perform the work and the analysis over the years 2009-2010.

Additional Info

Field	Value
Abstract	There have been few applications of synchrotron radiation techniques to the study of irradiated materials of interest to the nuclear energy community. In order to improve the current state of understanding of radiation damage, we propose to study binary compounds from the PIE Sample Library. The binary compounds that are currently available through the irradiated sample library at ATR are ZrC, TiC, TiN, ZrN, AlN, and SiC. These compounds are ceramics that can be used as fuel claddings. They can also be precipitates in structural materials. In either case, it will be important to understand structural changes in these materials as a function of radiation dose. This sequence of samples will allow us to understand how simple changes in Z (changing C to N) affect the observed radiation damage. We propose to study the radiation damage in these materials using x-ray diffraction and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction is sensitive to the changes in long range order in a material. X-ray absorption spectroscopy is sensitive to changes in the local atomic structure of a material. We believe that we will be able to better understand the mechanism of radiation damage in these potential cladding materials. By studying these simple binary compounds, we will also be able to better build a base for exploring radiation damage in the more complex alloys in the future. We believe that understanding the observed radiation damage in simple systems will make it easier to understand the observations in more complex alloys. It should be fairly straightforward to analyze the binary compounds and the goal is to have this data analyzed quickly. To provide a base for further exploration, we propose to perform the work and the analysis over the years 2009-2010.
Award Announced Date	2009-11-24T00:00:00
Awarded Institution	None
Facility	None
Facility Tech Lead	Jeff Terry
Irradiation Facility	None
PI	Jeff Terry
PI Email	[email protected]
Project Type	APS
RTE Number	231