About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Ceramics and Ceramic-Based Composites for Nuclear Applications III
|
| Presentation Title |
Ion Beam Irradiation and Analysis of Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics |
| Author(s) |
Ethan Charles Payne, Steven Zinkle |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Ethan Charles Payne |
| Abstract Scope |
Ion beam irradiation and analysis is a powerful method to examine a material’s intrinsic radiation resistance under many different temperatures and irradiation conditions in a short timeframe without neutron activation. Ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTC’s) are of growing interest for a variety of fission and fusion energy applications due to their incredibly high melting point, high (and tunable) thermal conductivity, moderate fracture toughness, and potential hot hydrogen compatibility, which is beneficial in a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engine. Their irradiation tolerance is largely unexplored. 9 MeV heavy ion (Cu) irradiation of UHTCs containing ZrC, TiC, TaC, and NbC was performed at the Tennessee Ion Beam Materials Laboratory at 20 to 1000C to examine phase stability and response to irradiation. The samples were consolidated via spark plasma sintering (SPS), exposed, and subsequently characterized via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), glancing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD), and nanoindentation testing. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Ceramics, High-Temperature Materials, Nuclear Materials |