| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T24: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
Advanced Characterization of Materials for Nuclear, Radiation, and Extreme Environments V
|
| Presentation Title |
Nanoscale Redistribution of Lithium in Neutron Irradiated LiAlO2 |
| Author(s) |
Edgar C. Buck, Shalini Tripathi, Gary J Sevigny |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Edgar C. Buck |
| Abstract Scope |
High-energy ion irradiation has been used to understand and predict neutron radiation effects in materials used in nuclear reactors. However, when the damage process involves both knock-on damage and transmutation, this method may fail to predict the damaged microstructure. LiAl5O8 has been reported from ion irradiation of LiAlO2 ceramics previously. However, LiAl5O8 is almost structurally identical to the cubic phase, γ-Al2O3. In this work, we show that x-ray diffraction of reactor irradiated Li6-enriched γ-LiAlO2 was inconclusive owning to the structural similarity of LiAl5O8 and γ-Al2O3. Modeling of electron diffraction suggested that specific reflections are forbidden in γ-Al2O3 but are present in LiAl5O8. Electron diffraction analysis of the irradiated ceramics suggested the occurrence of γ-Al2O3 in reactor irradiated LiAlO2. Direct observation of lithium was also attempted with Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) and Energy-Filtered Transmission Electron Microscopy (EFTEM) which provided additional experimental evidence for the occurrence of γ-Al2O3. |