About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Metallic Fuels - Design, Fabrication, and Characterization
|
| Presentation Title |
Faulted and Perfect Loop Evolution with Dose and Temperature in Proton Irradiated Uranium Mononitride (UN) |
| Author(s) |
Anshul Kamboj, Md Minaruzzaman , Lin-Chieh Yu, Kaustubh Bawane, Zilong Hua , Lin Shao, Marat Khafizov , Yongfeng Zhang , Miaomiao Jin , David H. Hurley , Boopathy Kombaiah , Jennifer Watkins |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Anshul Kamboj |
| Abstract Scope |
Uranium mononitride (UN) offers several benefits over conventional reactor fuel UO2, such as higher thermal conductivity, uranium density, better swelling behavior, and potential for longer fuel cycles and enhanced safety. However, the thermal conductivity of fuels is reduced under application due to fission products, gas porosity, and radiation damage, which are not well understood in the UN system. This study analyzed irradiation damage mechanisms by examining faulted and perfect loop evolution in proton-irradiated UN at various doses (0.1 and 1 dpa) and temperatures (25°C and 800°C) using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), molecular dynamics (MD), and cluster dynamics (CD). TEM revealed that increasing the dose increases the number density and size of loops, while increasing temperature decreases number density but significantly increases loop size. MD and CD were used to uncover mechanisms of loop unfaulting and coalescence, and comparisons were made with UO2 and ThO2 systems under similar conditions. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Characterization, Modeling and Simulation |