About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T25: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
Metallic Nuclear Fuel Design, Fabrication and Characterization
|
| Presentation Title |
Impact of Dislocation Loops on the Thermal Transport in Nuclear Fuels: A First-Principles Atomistic Approach |
| Author(s) |
Saqeeb Adnan, Marat Khafizov |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Saqeeb Adnan |
| Abstract Scope |
Understanding how irradiation-induced defects influence thermal transport is essential for designing advanced nuclear fuels with enhanced performance and safety. We present a first-principles-based atomic-scale model that captures the impact of extended defects, specifically dislocation loops with long-range strain fields, on the thermal transport of nuclear fuel materials. The impact of these defects has traditionally been approximated through analytical formulation that grossly simplifies the impact of long-range strain fields. In this work, we incorporate a perturbative approach using real phonon dispersion calculated from density functional theory (DFT) and extend Klemens’ original formulation for extended defects. Our calculation of thermal conductivity is bench-marked against experimentally measured values from irradiated UO2 and ThO2. This work offers fundamental insights into defect–phonon interactions and establishes a predictive pathway for correlating microstructural evolution with fuel performance. |