About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
Materials in Nuclear Energy Systems (MiNES) 2025
|
| Symposium
|
Materials in Nuclear Energy Systems (MiNES) 2025
|
| Presentation Title |
Physically Informed Cluster Dynamics Modeling of Microstructural Evolution in α-Zr |
| Author(s) |
Nicholas Militello, Sophie Blondel, Brian Wirth |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Nicholas Militello |
| Abstract Scope |
Zirconium alloys have consistently been employed as the cladding material in the majority of commercial nuclear reactors due to adequate mechanical properties and low parasitic thermal neutron absorption. Accordingly, the evolution of the irradiation-damaged microstructure has been studied extensively in these materials, most commonly at the nominal operating temperature of 300°C. In these conditions, mechanisms such as defect clustering and dislocation loop formation on the basal and prismatic planes have been observed and are thought to heavily influence irradiation-induced growth, a process characteristic of Zr alloys in which contraction along the c-axis is accompanied by expansion along the a-axis. While these mechanisms are familiar, the picture changes significantly with a sharp temperature increase. In this work, we use a physically informed cluster dynamics model to investigate the response of a preirradiated α-Zr microstructure to high temperature excursions. Additionally, the implementation of a single-size model above the maximum size used by the detailed cluster dynamics framework is discussed. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Undecided |