NSUF 11-325: Atom Probe Tomography to Study Fission Product Damage in Model Nuclear Fuel
It is widely known that microstructural changes during irradiation lead to the deterioration of the thermal performance of nuclear fuel. One mechanism that plays a pivotal role in the microstructural evolution of fuel is damage processes associated with the formation and migration of fission products. The atomic-level movement of fission products leads to detrimental microstructural features such as solute clustering that lead to void formation and grain boundary segregation that can promote integrity loss of the fuel. Thus, the objective of this proposed research is to study the effect of fission damage processes on the microstructure of nuclear fuel. The goal is to elucidate the fundamental material-physics underlying the connection between fission product migration and microstructural evolution. The proposed research utilizes thin film and single crystal ceria (CeO2) to study solute clustering and grain boundary segregation. Ceria was chosen as a surrogate for uranium dioxide (UO2) due to its similar crystal structure, relative availability, and ease of processing and use in academic laboratories. To simulate fission product damage, Xe was ion implanted into two sets of CeO2 thin films. Each set were processed under similar conditions and only vary by grain size. The single crystal CeO2 was ion implanted with lanthanum (La). In order to characterize the precise chemical and spatial distributions of the implanted ions, laserassisted atom probe tomography (ATP) in conjunction with the focused ion beam (FIB) system available at CAES will be used. The FIB system will be used to prepare site-specific samples that target both in grain and grain boundary locations to fabricate atom probe tips. Each sample analyzed will be reconstructed using the IVAS software (available both at CAES and PI Manuel’s laboratory at the University of Florida) to study the nature and level of grain boundary segregation as well as statistically quantify solute clustering. Samples will be studied in the late summer or early Fall 2011. Final results will then be published in peerreviewed journal articles. It is expected that these results will provide new insight into the spatial and chemical distribution of fission products, similar to what is observed in nuclear fuel under irradiation, allowing for the correlation with atomic-level simulations and/or the ability to link with mesoscale structure-property relationships.
Additional Info
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Abstract | It is widely known that microstructural changes during irradiation lead to the deterioration of the thermal performance of nuclear fuel. One mechanism that plays a pivotal role in the microstructural evolution of fuel is damage processes associated with the formation and migration of fission products. The atomic-level movement of fission products leads to detrimental microstructural features such as solute clustering that lead to void formation and grain boundary segregation that can promote integrity loss of the fuel. Thus, the objective of this proposed research is to study the effect of fission damage processes on the microstructure of nuclear fuel. The goal is to elucidate the fundamental material-physics underlying the connection between fission product migration and microstructural evolution. The proposed research utilizes thin film and single crystal ceria (CeO2) to study solute clustering and grain boundary segregation. Ceria was chosen as a surrogate for uranium dioxide (UO2) due to its similar crystal structure, relative availability, and ease of processing and use in academic laboratories. To simulate fission product damage, Xe was ion implanted into two sets of CeO2 thin films. Each set were processed under similar conditions and only vary by grain size. The single crystal CeO2 was ion implanted with lanthanum (La). In order to characterize the precise chemical and spatial distributions of the implanted ions, laserassisted atom probe tomography (ATP) in conjunction with the focused ion beam (FIB) system available at CAES will be used. The FIB system will be used to prepare site-specific samples that target both in grain and grain boundary locations to fabricate atom probe tips. Each sample analyzed will be reconstructed using the IVAS software (available both at CAES and PI Manuel’s laboratory at the University of Florida) to study the nature and level of grain boundary segregation as well as statistically quantify solute clustering. Samples will be studied in the late summer or early Fall 2011. Final results will then be published in peerreviewed journal articles. It is expected that these results will provide new insight into the spatial and chemical distribution of fission products, similar to what is observed in nuclear fuel under irradiation, allowing for the correlation with atomic-level simulations and/or the ability to link with mesoscale structure-property relationships. |
| Award Announced Date | 2011-08-03T00:00:00 |
| Awarded Institution | None |
| Facility | None |
| Facility Tech Lead | Alina Zackrone, Yaqiao Wu |
| Irradiation Facility | None |
| PI | Michele Manuel |
| PI Email | [email protected] |
| Project Type | RTE |
| RTE Number | 325 |