NSUF 20-4207: Radiation Tolerance of Advanced Multilayered Coating: an in-situ TEM Investigation

Advance multilayered coating has proven thermal-cycle resistance and diffusion barrier performance at elevated temperature. Therefore, it is a crucial component for the advanced enclosure solution technology developed at Argonne for micro-GCR concepts. The nanoscale multilayer structure provides high-density sink sites for radiation-induced defects and is thus expected to have advantageous resistance to radiation-induced microstructural modifications and consequent performance degradation. However, experimental evidence is required to demonstrate that this advanced multilayered coating can survive the harsh radiation conditions found in a high-temperature nuclear reactors. This proposed study aims at utilizing the in situ TEM ion irradiation capability at IVEM-Tandem to produce the qualitative and quantitative references for radiation tolerance of advanced multilayered coating on refractory metal substrate so as to facilitate the development of this technology and the micro-reactor concepts. While ex-situ heavy ion irradiation on bulk samples is also planned (not sponsored by NSUF), the in-situ TEM experiments proposed here will help capture the kinetic radiation-induced microstructure modification processes to facilitate the understanding of the related mechanisms. The advanced multilayered coating samples on Nb substrates will be used in this study. The samples are prepared by coating refractory metals by ~3-micron thick multilayered coating consisting of 5~50 nm thick single layers of ceramics and/or metals using atomic layer deposition (ALD). TEM lamellae will be lifted out from the coated metal samples using focused ion beam (FIB). The as-fabricated lamellae will be irradiated by 1 MeV Kr ions up to 1.80E16 ions/cm2 at 800ºC using two different irradiation dose rates to study rate effect. The selection of the ion energy ensures that the majority of the Kr ions will penetrate the lamellae, leaving few foreign atoms within the sample and only creating radiation damages and consequent enhanced diffusion in coated metal lamellae. The evolution of the multilayer structure and coating-substrate interaction will be focused in this study. The integrity and microstructure of the multilayer structure and the coating-substrate interaction layer (if any) will be monitored throughout the in-situ irradiation. The results will provide experimental demonstration for the radiation tolerance of the advanced multilayered coating at high temperature and guide further optimization of the coating recipe. The in situ TEM ion irradiation investigation takes one days for each sample. As there will be ten samples (five sets of coating parameters and two irradiation dose rates), we request ten (10) days of IVEM-Tandem facility time.

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필드
Abstract Advance multilayered coating has proven thermal-cycle resistance and diffusion barrier performance at elevated temperature. Therefore, it is a crucial component for the advanced enclosure solution technology developed at Argonne for micro-GCR concepts. The nanoscale multilayer structure provides high-density sink sites for radiation-induced defects and is thus expected to have advantageous resistance to radiation-induced microstructural modifications and consequent performance degradation. However, experimental evidence is required to demonstrate that this advanced multilayered coating can survive the harsh radiation conditions found in a high-temperature nuclear reactors. This proposed study aims at utilizing the in situ TEM ion irradiation capability at IVEM-Tandem to produce the qualitative and quantitative references for radiation tolerance of advanced multilayered coating on refractory metal substrate so as to facilitate the development of this technology and the micro-reactor concepts. While ex-situ heavy ion irradiation on bulk samples is also planned (not sponsored by NSUF), the in-situ TEM experiments proposed here will help capture the kinetic radiation-induced microstructure modification processes to facilitate the understanding of the related mechanisms. The advanced multilayered coating samples on Nb substrates will be used in this study. The samples are prepared by coating refractory metals by ~3-micron thick multilayered coating consisting of 5~50 nm thick single layers of ceramics and/or metals using atomic layer deposition (ALD). TEM lamellae will be lifted out from the coated metal samples using focused ion beam (FIB). The as-fabricated lamellae will be irradiated by 1 MeV Kr ions up to 1.80E16 ions/cm2 at 800ºC using two different irradiation dose rates to study rate effect. The selection of the ion energy ensures that the majority of the Kr ions will penetrate the lamellae, leaving few foreign atoms within the sample and only creating radiation damages and consequent enhanced diffusion in coated metal lamellae. The evolution of the multilayer structure and coating-substrate interaction will be focused in this study. The integrity and microstructure of the multilayer structure and the coating-substrate interaction layer (if any) will be monitored throughout the in-situ irradiation. The results will provide experimental demonstration for the radiation tolerance of the advanced multilayered coating at high temperature and guide further optimization of the coating recipe. The in situ TEM ion irradiation investigation takes one days for each sample. As there will be ten samples (five sets of coating parameters and two irradiation dose rates), we request ten (10) days of IVEM-Tandem facility time.
Award Announced Date 2020-07-14T14:16:54.26
Awarded Institution Idaho National Laboratory
Facility Advanced Test Reactor
Facility Tech Lead Alina Zackrone, Wei-Ying Chen
Irradiation Facility Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy (IVEM)-Tandem Facility
PI Yinbin Miao
PI Email [email protected]
Project Type RTE
RTE Number 4207