About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Modeling, AI Applications, and Method Development in Nuclear Materials
|
| Presentation Title |
Development of a model for irradiation-assisted grain growth for nanocrystalline UO2 |
| Author(s) |
Md Ali Muntaha, Larry Aagesen, Michael R. Tonks |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Md Ali Muntaha |
| Abstract Scope |
In this work, we developed a model for irradiation-assisted grain growth in nanocrystalline UO2 using MARMOT finite element code. We incorporated the effects of irradiation on UO2 grain growth by coupling a phase-field grain growth model with a heat conduction simulation featuring a random heat source that represents thermal spikes. The model parameters were calibrated against experimental measurements at 300 K. The calibrated model accurately predicts grain growth in an irradiated UO2 thin film and compares well with experimental data at 50 K. These results suggest that thermal spikes are the primary mechanism driving the irradiation-assisted grain growth observed in the UO2 experiments. They also indicate that irradiation-assisted grain growth is significant only for average grain sizes smaller than 35 nm and can therefore be neglected when evaluating the fuel performance of typical UO2 fuel pellets. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Modeling and Simulation, Computational Materials Science & Engineering, Nuclear Materials |