Methods for Determining the Irradiation Response of Structural
Materials for Nuclear Reactor Core Structural Materials Development
EMSL Project ID
49582
Abstract
Radiation induced changes in microstructure that adversely affects dimensional stability and mechanical properties is still the life-limiting degradation process for many nuclear reactor core internals. In light water reactors, irradiation-induced hardening and compositional segregation of reactor core support structure materials makes them more susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) while differential void swelling between components can create stresses that drive SCC. In fast reactors, irradiation induced void swelling or irradiation-induced reductions in fracture toughness can limit the lifetime of fuel cladding and duct. Understanding how irradiation-induced changes in microstructure affect material properties remains a prime concern for these types of components, and a number of DOE programs have a goal of understanding irradiation effects on nuclear reactor core materials and producing optimized materials.This proposal seeks to use EMSL facilities to study irradiation effects on the microstructure of reactor core materials with the goal of producing optimized alloys. The current emphasis for this proposal is on fast reactor clad and duct materials. In particular, there is a strong interest in correlating microstructures produced by neutron irradiation and by surrogate ion irradiation. Ion irradiations are viewed as a potential tool to perform rapid screening and estimation of neutron irradiation resistance. This has yet to be proven in detail, and thus careful analysis and comparison of neutron and ion irradiated materials are required. EMSL FIB, APT, and ToF-SIMS facilities are needed to enable this research.
Project Details
Start Date
2016-10-13
End Date
2017-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)
Team Members
Related Publications
Shao L, JG Gigax, D Chen, H Kim, F Garner, J Wang, and MB Toloczko. 2017. "Standardization of accelerator irradiation procedures for simulation of neutron induced damage in reactor structural materials." In Ion Beam Modification of Materials Conference (2016), vol. 409, pp. 251-254. No publisher listed. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2017.05.026
Wang J., D.K. Schreiber, N.A. Bailey, P. Hosemann, and M.B. Toloczko. 2019. "The Application of the OPTICS Algorithm to Cluster Analysis in Atom Probe Tomography Data." Microscopy and Microanalysis 25, no. 2:338-348. PNNL-SA-133361. doi:10.1017/S1431927618015386
Wang J, MB Toloczko, K Kruska, DK Schreiber, DJ Edwards, Z Zhu, and J Zhang. 2017. "Carbon Contamination During Ion Irradiation - Accurate Detection and Characterization of its Effect on Microstructure of Ferritic/Martensitic Steels." Scientific Reports 7(1):Article No. 15813. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-15669-y