| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T24: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
Advanced Characterization of Materials for Nuclear, Radiation, and Extreme Environments V
|
| Presentation Title |
Effect of Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation on Silicon Carbide |
| Author(s) |
Jackson Clayton Cagle, Maik K Lang, Eric O'Quinn, Jacob Minnette, Evan J Williams, Cale Overstreet |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Jackson Clayton Cagle |
| Abstract Scope |
Carbides form an important class of materials for energy technologies that operate in harsh conditions due to their desirable structural, chemical, and mechanical properties. For instance, in tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particles, an accident tolerant nuclear fuel, silicon carbide (SiC) encapsulates uranium fuel kernels to contain fission gases. This work presents recent experimental investigations into the effects of highly ionizing radiation on the structural integrity of SiC. We examined a SiC sample after exposure to 946 MeV Au and 198 MeV Xe ions over a broad fluence range up to 8x1013 ions/cm2 using synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Both techniques consistently show that SiC is highly radiation resistant with defect-induced unit-cell expansion and microstrain being the only observable material modification. The structural changes were compared with recent results from ZrC and HfC irradiated under similar conditions indicating that these carbides exhibit two distinct swelling mechanisms over the fluence range studied. |