| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Seaborg Institutes: Emerging Topics in Actinide Materials and Science
|
| Presentation Title |
Genetic Algorithm Approach to Interpreting Pu Radiation Damage in EXAFS Data |
| Author(s) |
Daniel Olive, Corwin Booth, Ari Foley, Meghan Gibbs, Kasey Hanson, Sarah Hickam, Taylor Jacobs, Jeremy Mitchell, Alison Pugmire |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Daniel Olive |
| Abstract Scope |
Plutonium and its compounds, with their complex phase diagrams and ever present self-irradiation damage, have always posed a challenge in terms of understanding radiation damage in these materials from a fundamental standpoint. While many complementary techniques can be brought to bear on this problem, Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy offers a unique, short-range and element specific view of local structure. Interpreting the data requires selecting physically meaningful and statistically relevant set of paths. However, in contrast to pristine samples, those suffering from radiation damage present a challenge to traditional fitting. Here, we present recent efforts using a genetic algorithm (GA) approach to EXAFS fitting. The GA approach can explore the complicated parameter space, and potentially remove operator bias, giving insight on radiation damage at small length scales useful for informing Pu aging and metallurgy, as well as for comparison with first principals calculations. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Characterization, |