About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T26: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
Ceramics and Glasses for Nuclear Energy Applications
|
| Presentation Title |
Effects of Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation on the Oxidation Behavior of Zirconium Carbide |
| Author(s) |
Eric John Kadel, John Hirtz, Maik Lang |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Eric John Kadel |
| Abstract Scope |
In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to characterize the effect of irradiation on the oxidation kinetics of Zirconium Carbide (ZrC) during isochronal heating from 25-1000 °C. Samples were irradiated at room temperature with 950 MeV Au ions at a fluence of 1×1013 ions cm-2 with an average electronic energy loss of 36.4 keV/nm. Results indicate that swift heavy ion irradiation reduces the onset temperature of oxidation and fundamentally alters the oxidation kinetics. While the pristine sample reached a bulk oxidation saturation limit of ~18%, the irradiated sample oxidized completely. This discrepancy indicates that ion tracks created during SHI irradiation prevent the formation of a passivation layer, which normally reduces the rate of oxidation in ceramic carbides. Additional thermogravimetric analysis performed on irradiated, 1.6 GeV Au ions at a fluence of 8×1012 ions cm-2, and pristine ZrC showed greater mass gain in the irradiated sample, corroborating the XRD results. |