| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Microstructural, Mechanical, and Chemical Behavior of Solid Nuclear Fuel and Fuel-Cladding Interface II
|
| Presentation Title |
Irradiation-Induced Formation of High- and Low-Angle Grain Boundaries, Microcracking, and Fission Gas Release |
| Author(s) |
Charles Lieou, Nathan Capps, Pierre-Clement Simon, Michael Cooper, Brian Wirth |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Charles Lieou |
| Abstract Scope |
In this presentation, we describe a new multiphysics model that simultaneously describes irradiation-induced fuel restructuring, fission gas release, and swelling. The model is based on the SIFGRSX model for fission gas release proposed recently by us, according to which significant grain refinement occurs during irradiation to provide the grain-boundary area available for microcracking, thereby accounting for the amount of fission gas release observed in irradiation experiments. We refine the SIFGRSX model by ascribing different formation energies for high-angle and low-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs and LAGBs). Model implementation in the fuel performance code BISON indicates that while formation of new HAGBs dominates in the fuel pellet periphery, grain growth can occur near the fuel pellet centerline. The dominance of LAGB formation in the mid-radial region suggests that the majority of microcracks appear on subgrain boundaries, and a large fraction of microcracks are thus intragranular as a result. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Modeling and Simulation, Nuclear Materials, Computational Materials Science & Engineering |