APT Characterization of Irradiated Materials
EMSL Project ID
48267
Abstract
As the world’s population continues to increase, carbon neutral energy resources like nuclear power become increasingly important. A major challenge facing the design of advanced nuclear power systems lies in finding appropriate materials that demonstrate the needed material properties as well as radiation and high temperature resistance. Many varied materials are under consideration for both fission and fusion reactor design, and examination of the evolution of the materials microstructure under irradiation is key to the engineering of robust materials. The damage processes occur at the nanoscale and require characterization techniques that can probe down to the atomic level to capture the chemical changes induced by exposure to the operating environment of nuclear reactors.Atom probe tomography (APT) provides three-dimensional analysis of materials on the scale of nm, and in some cases atomic plane resolution is achievable. Analysis of composition as well as spatial location of second phases, grain boundary segregation, and nanoclusters is possible using APT, contributing unique insight into microstructural changes under irradiation. The proposal requests the use of the Local Electrode Atom Probe (LEAP) 4000X HR to analyze irradiated F/M steel samples and silicon carbide as well as other relevant metal and ceramic specimens that have been irradiated and prepared by targeted focused ion beam milling.
Project Details
Start Date
2014-04-15
End Date
2014-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)
Team Members