NSUF 23-4697: Gas bubble superlattice formation in metals at cryogenic temperature and in ceramics at high temperature New Proposal

In the open literature, the previous research identified both high and low temperature limit of 0.35Tm and 0.15Tm for GBS formation, respectively. The low temperature limit was linked to the onset of thermally activated vacancy motion where the effective migration of vacancies. In-situ ion irradiations will be conducted at cryogenic temperature to identify the true low temperature limit for gas bubble superlattice (GBS) formation in both fcc and bcc metals. The evolution of bubble microstructure under the He ion irradiations will be followed. Data on GBS formation in ceramics is not existed. The in-situ He ion irradiation in TiC at high temperature will be performed to investigate the GBS formation in ceramics. Kr GBS formation will also be investigated if the beam time is available after accomplishing all the He ion irradiations. The outcomes from this work will have important impact on the defect interaction, migration and evolution under irradiation at cryogenic temperatures, and the GBS formation mechanism in ceramics.

Additional Info

Field	Value
Awarded Institution	Idaho National Laboratory
Embargo End Date	2026-02-27
Facility Tech Lead	Alina Montrose, Wei-Ying Chen
NSUF Call	FY 2023 RTE 2nd Call
PI	Jian Gan
PIE Facilities	Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy (IVEM)-Tandem Facility
Prep Facilities	Irradiated Materials Characterization Laboratory
Project Member	Dr. Jian Gan, Research Scientist - Idaho National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9121-4164)
Project Member	Dr. Cheng Sun, Associate Professor - Clemson University (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4104-8898)
Project Type	RTE