NSUF 13-395: Atom Probe Tomography to Study Helium Segregation and Bubble Formation in Uranium Dioxide
Irradiation of oxide fuels, specifically UO2 leads to the formation of insoluble fission products, such as helium (He) changing the path phonons travel, reducing its thermal transport behavior. The addition of insoluble fission products, which tend to cluster intragranularly with increasing irradiation dose, swell the fuel, degrading its overall fuel performance. Of interest in this proposed research is to investigate the evolution and segregation of He in UO2 with Atom Probe Tomography (APT). APT is uniquely suited due to its nanometer scale spatial resolution and chemical identification abilities to 3-dimensionally investigate the growth characteristics of the He clusters and its chemical composition. Additionally of interest in this proposal is to investigate the changes in UO2 near clusters. In order to characterize the precise chemical and spatial distributions of the He bubbles in UO2, laser-assisted atom probe tomography (APT) 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 regions inside the grains and near grain boundaries 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 He bubble evolution and segregation in UO2. Samples will be studied in the late Fall or Winter 2012. Final results will then be published in peer- reviewed journal articles and presented at fuels-related conferences. It is expected that these results will provide new insight into the spatial and chemical distribution fission product clusters in UO2, allowing for the correlation with atomic-level simulations and/or the ability to link with mesoscale structure-property relationships.
ข้อมูลเพิ่มเติม
| ฟิลด์ | ค่า |
|---|---|
| Awarded Institution | University of Florida |
| Embargo End Date | 2026-02-27 |
| Facility Tech Lead | Mukesh Bachhav |
| NSUF Call | FY 2013 RTE Solicitation |
| PI | Michele Manuel |
| Project Member | Dr. Jian Gan, Research Scientist - Idaho National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9121-4164) |
| Project Member | Dr. Michele Manuel, Professor and Chair - University of Florida (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3495-7826) |
| Project Member | Billy Valderrama - University of Florida |
| Project Member | Hunter Henderson - University of Florida |
| Project Type | RTE |
| Publication | ATR National Scientific User Facility 2013 Annual Report Sarah Robertson, Julie Ulrich INL/EXT-14-32057 None 2013-06-03 https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/6360318.pdf |
| Publication | Influence of instrument conditions on the evaporation behavior of uranium dioxide with UV laser-assisted atom probe tomography Jian Gan, Billy Valderrama, Hunter Henderson, Michele Manuel Journal of Nuclear Materials 459 2015-04-01 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2014.12.119 |
| RTE Number | 395 |