Nanostructured Materials in Extreme Environments: Nanostructured Ceramics in Extreme Environments
Sponsored by: TMS Materials Processing and Manufacturing Division, TMS Structural Materials Division, TMS: Nanomechanical Materials Behavior Committee, TMS: Advanced Characterization, Testing, and Simulation Committee, TMS: Mechanical Behavior of Materials Committee, TMS: Nuclear Materials Committee
Program Organizers: Haiming Wen, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Nan Li, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Youxing Chen, University of North Carolina Charlotte; Yue Fan, University of Michigan; Niaz Abdolrahim, University of Rochester; Khalid Hattar, University of Tennessee Knoxville; Ruslan Valiev, UFA State Aviation Technical University; Zhaoping Lu, University of Science and Technology Beijing
Tuesday 2:30 PM
March 21, 2023
Room: Aqua 303
Location: Hilton
Session Chair: Yue Fan, University of Michigan
2:30 PM Invited
Irradiation Effects in Nanostructured Ceramics: William Weber1; Chien-Hung Chen1; Jagdish Narayan2; Yanwen Zhang3; 1University of Tennessee; 2North Carolina State University; 3Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Nanolayered and nanocrystalline ceramics have superior properties for nuclear and aerospace application under extreme environments. The nano-grain size and nano-laminate structure due to high stacking fault densities in nano-engineered SiC leads to rapid two-dimensional interlayer diffusion of defects and helium that enhances radiation resistance and affects the evolution of helium bubbles. The irradiation response of nanocrystalline ZrO2 and CeO2 has been investigated over a range of ions and temperatures. In both ZrO2 and CeO2, the cubic structure is stable and the grain size increase with ion fluence; however, grain growth is much faster in ZrO2 at cryogenic temperatures, indicating critical role of charged defects. The radiation resistance of an embedded nanolayer of Q-carbon, which is a new phase of carbon with much higher density and hardness than diamond, has been demonstrated; this unique material has great potential as a coating in nuclear and aerospace applications.
2:55 PM Invited
Layering and Interfacial Effects on Radiation Resistance of Covalently-bonded Materials: Izabela Szlufarska1; 1University of Wisconsin-Madison
Interfaces and atomic layering in 3D materials (e.g., in MAX phases) have been frequently shown to lead to significant improvements in radiation resistance. Here, I will introduce a new class of 3D layered borides (MAB phases), which we have shown to have outstanding resistance to radiation-induced amorphization. Specifically, I will explain the role of the metal (A) layer in radiation response of MAB phases, and I will introduce rules for design of MAB phases with efficient defect recovery processes. I will demonstrate that in materials with covalent bonding, interfaces are not always beneficial to radiation resistance, and I will use engineered multi-layered materials based on MAX phases as an example. Finally, I will show that interfaces in covalent materials can undergo radiation-induced segregation (RIS), even if the material has a strong desire to be stoichiometric, and that RIS has a significant impact on corrosion resistance of these materials.
3:20 PM Invited
Design Amorphous Ceramic Composites Through Tailoring Compositions and Heterogeneities: Jian Wang1; Bingqiang Wei1; 1University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Strong, ductile, and irradiation tolerant structural materials are in urgent demand for improving the safety and efficiency of advanced nuclear reactor. Amorphous ceramics could be very promising candidates for high radiation tolerance since they do not contain conventional crystal defects. However, amorphous ceramics can exhibit poor flow stability. We proposed to realize the strength-ductility-irradiation tolerance combination of amorphous ceramic composites (ACCs) through forming nanosized heterogeneities via composition and microstructure engineering. Principles for the design of such ACCs are urgently demanded. In this work, we present how to built upon these principles through integrating theory, modeling, and experiments.
3:45 PM Invited
Defect Transport and Microstructural Evolution in Irradiated Nanocrystalline Oxides: Nachiket Shah1; Nathan Madden2; Khalid Hattar2; Jessica Krogstad1; 1University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; 2Sandia National Laboratory
The successful strategy of using nanocrystalline or nanolaminate microstructures to increase the irradiation-induced defect sink density has been demonstrated in a wide range of metallic systems; however, the same strategy has been less successful for ceramics. Porous ceramics may provide the necessary combination of defect sinks and microstructural compliance to achieve an invariant microstructure that successfully suppresses radiation driven microstructural evolution. The underlying mechanisms contributing to the stability of porous ceramics are revealed through a combination of in-situ and ex-situ irradiation studies designed to isolate defect generation, interaction and transport behaviors. First, a new method for extracting radiation enhanced diffusivity data from in-situ irradiation of nanoparticles will be demonstrated for a range of temperatures and compositions. This insight will then be used to understand the evolution of nanocrystalline-nanoporous microstructures irradiated ex-situ.
4:10 PM Break
4:30 PM Invited
Enhanced Corrosion Resistance of Nanostructured Pyrochlore and its Mechanistic Understanding: Jie Lian1; 1Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Pyrochlore A2B2O7 are promising nuclear waste form materials capable of immobilizing actinides and fission products. Nanostructured pyrochlore displays enhanced amorphization resistance when subjected to intensive ion beam irradiations. However, limited knowledge is available in understanding the corrosion kinetics and how different microstructures impact chemical durability when utilized as potential nuclear waste forms in a near field environment. In this work, chemical durability and corrosion mechanisms of nanostructured A2B2O7 are systematically investigated by semi-dynamic leaching testing and solution chemistry analysis, in comparison with micron- or sub-micron sized grain structures. A greatly enhanced corrosion resistance of the nano-sized pyrochlore is discovered and correlated with a transition of corrosion mechanisms leading to rapid precipitation of a titanium-enriched surface passivation film. The mechanistic understanding of the corrosion mechanisms and microstructure impacts will be beneficial to the future design of nanostructured ceramics for actinide incorporation with simultaneously-high radiation and corrosion resistance.
4:55 PM Invited
Stability and Behavior of MoS2 in Extreme Radiation Environments: Aaron Rabin1; Zhihan Hu2; Kory Burns1; Lin Shao2; Khalid Hattar3; Assel Aitkaliyeva1; 1University of Florida; 2Texas A&M University; 3Sandia National Laboratories
Two-dimensional nanomaterials can be exposed to harsh environments during their lifetime, including high temperatures and extreme phonon and particle fluxes, which can degrade their structure and properties. The radiation response of these low-dimensional materials differs from their bulk counterparts because of their interface-dominated nature but the precise mechanisms responsible for different behaviors remain unclear. A combination of experiments and modeling efforts were utilized to explore the defect formation and evolution mechanisms and develop the requisite fundamental knowledge base needed to understand defect-property relationships in this unique class of materials. This contribution will report the results of systematic assessment of the stability of two-dimensional MoS2 in various radiation environments, including but not limited to electron, phonon, and ion. In addition, the contribution will discuss the structure-property relationships and quantify radiation tolerance of MoS2.
5:20 PM Invited
Experimental and Computational Studies of Defect and Microstructure Evolution under Irradiation in Cathode Battery Materials: Muhammad Rahman1; Feng Lin1; Xian-Ming Bai1; 1Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Understanding defect evolution and structural transformations in advanced battery materials under extreme environments is important for ultimately controlling their electrochemical properties. Here we utilize in-situ high-energy Kr ion irradiation with transmission electron microscopy to monitor how defects and microstructures evolve in Na- and Li-layered cathode oxide particles (LiNiO2 and Na2/3Fe1/2Mn1/2O2). Our experiments reveal that the Li-layered cathodes are more resistant to radiation-induced structural transformations, such as amorphization, than the Na-layered cathodes. Our density functional theory based calculations show that the resistance to amorphization is closely related to the energetics of cation antisite defects as well as the ionic radius difference between cations. Our quantitative mathematical analysis of the dynamic bright-field imaging shows that dislocation-loop-like defect clusters preferentially align along the Na/Li ion diffusion channels (a-b planes). The understanding of defect and microstructure evolution in layered oxides from this work provides critical insights into designing radiation-tolerant battery materials in extreme environments.
5:45 PM
Microstructural Dependence of Defect Formation in Iron-oxide Thin Films: Benjamin Derby1; Sean Mills2; Sahil Agarwal3; James Valdez1; J. Baldwin1; Matthew Schneider1; Andrew Minor2; Blas Uberuaga1; Farida Selim3; Nan Li1; 1Los Alamos National Laboratory; 2University of California - Berkeley; 3Bowling Green State University
Passivating iron-oxide films are grown atop iron films simulating the corrosion process in a nuclear reactor environment. Two oxide films grown via physical vapor deposition at 600 °C and room temperature exhibited dense-epitactic and columnar-polycrystalline, microstructures respectively. A third oxide film grown in open air at 600 °C exhibited an equiaxed, porous morphology. Positron annihilation spectroscopy was used to characterize point defects and measure their depth and size distributions in each oxide layer and showed a range of average positron lifetimes from 0.23 ns in the high temperature, vapor deposited film, 0.35 ns in the room temperature-grown film, and 0.31 ns in the thermally grown oxide. These data indicate that the film morphology, which varies greatly in these films, leads to very different defect content. 4DSTEM was used to measure the internal stress of each film and was correlated to the strain state presented in the X-ray diffraction spectra.
6:05 PM
Strength, Plasticity and Stability of Dual Phase Ti-SiOC Ceramic Nanocomposites: Bingqiang Wei1; Kaisheng Ming2; Jian Wang1; 1University Of Nebraska-Lincoln; 2Hebei University of Technology
Ceramic is a promising structural material used in severe environment, such as high temperature and irradiation. By co-sputtering Ti and Si-O-C, we synthesized dual phase ceramic nanocomposites comprising nanocrystalline TiC and nanoscale amorphous ceramic SiOC. High temperature annealing remains the nanostructure although TiC nangrains slightly grow. In-situ SEM compression test show that the Ti-SiOC dual phase ceramic nanocomposites exhibit high strength (7 GPa) and good plasticity (10%). More importantly, the dual phase nanocomposite shows good irradiation resistance and more uniform plastic deformation after irradiation test. In this work, we proposed a strategy to develop high strength, large plasticity, good thermal stability and irradiation tolerance of ceramic via composition and microstructure engineering.