Advanced Characterization and Modeling of Nuclear Fuels: Microstructure, Thermo-physical Properties: On-Demand Poster Session
Sponsored by: TMS Structural Materials Division, TMS: Advanced Characterization, Testing, and Simulation Committee, TMS: Energy Committee, TMS: Nanomechanical Materials Behavior Committee, TMS: Nuclear Materials Committee
Program Organizers: David Frazer, Idaho National Laboratory; Fabiola Cappia, Idaho National Laboratory; Tsvetoslav Pavlov, Idaho National Laboratory; Peter Hosemann
Monday 8:00 AM
March 14, 2022
Room: Nuclear Materials
Location: On-Demand Poster Hall
Propose Advanced Nuclear Fuels with High Thermal Conductivity Using Machine Learning: Meigyoku Kin1; Masaya Kumagai1; Yuji Ohishi2; Eriko Sato1; Masako Aoki1; Ken Kurosaki1; 1Kyoto University; 2Osaka University
In recent years, Materials Informatics (MI), which is a fusion of materials science and information science, has been attracting attention and is becoming mainstream in the field of materials research for magnetic materials and thermoelectric materials. This research aims to propose a new nuclear fuel as an approach in the nuclear field where MI research has not been reported. We designed a machine learning model using Starrydata, a database of experimental physical properties originally developed by our research group. The prediction accuracy was compared and verified using data without uranium compounds and data with uranium compounds. The trained machine learning models were used to comprehensively predict the thermal conductivity of uranium compounds that may exist in the world. We proposed uranium compounds with high thermal conductivity based on the prediction results, and evaluated the reliability of the model by synthesizing and measuring the proposed materials.
The Effect of the Proton Irradiation Dose Rate on the Evolution of Microstructure in Zr Alloys: A Synchrotron Micro-beam X-ray and TEM Study: Ömer Koç1; Rhys Thomas1; Tamas Ungár1; Zoltan Hegedues2; Robert Harrison1; Michael Preuss1; Philipp Frankel1; 1The University of Manchester; 2Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
Protons are used as surrogate to neutrons for studying the radiation damage on the zirconium utilised for fuel assemblies. One benefit of using protons is the possibility of significantly shorter irradiation times needed to achieve comparable neutron irradiation fluences. However, the accelerated damage rate needs to be compensated by using an increased irradiation temperature to enhance diffusion processes. In order to investigate the effect of these differences, we have proton irradiated recrystallised Low-Sn ZIRLO and Zircaloy-2 specimens to 0.1dpa at 320oC applying three different dose rates. Synchrotron-based x-ray microbeam depth profiling in 30µm deep irradiated regions was carried out for line profile analysis leading to dislcation density determination. The results are compared to dislocation analysis carried out by (S)TEM. The combined analysis of the two techniques has enabled to draw a better picture of the damage evolution for different damage accumulation rates during the early stages of irradiation.