Direct observations of radiation-enhanced transformations in glass

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 354-355
Author(s):  
J. F. DeNatale ◽  
D. G. Howitt
Keyword(s):  
Glass Matrix ◽  
Diffusion Mechanism ◽  
Bubble Formation ◽  
Silicate Glasses ◽  
Phase Decomposition ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Thin Foils ◽  
Oxygen Bubble ◽  
Electron Energy Loss ◽  
Kinetics Of

The electron irradiation of silicate glasses containing metal cations produces various types of phase separation and decomposition which includes oxygen bubble formation at intermediate temperatures figure I. The kinetics of bubble formation are too rapid to be accounted for by oxygen diffusion but the behavior is consistent with a cation diffusion mechanism if the amount of oxygen in the bubble is not significantly different from that in the same volume of silicate glass. The formation of oxygen bubbles is often accompanied by precipitation of crystalline phases and/or amorphous phase decomposition in the regions between the bubbles and the detection of differences in oxygen concentration between the bubble and matrix by electron energy loss spectroscopy cannot be discerned (figure 2) even when the bubble occupies the majority of the foil depth.The oxygen bubbles are stable, even in the thin foils, months after irradiation and if van der Waals behavior of the interior gas is assumed an oxygen pressure of about 4000 atmospheres must be sustained for a 100 bubble if the surface tension with the glass matrix is to balance against it at intermediate temperatures.

Mechanism for radiation damage in borosilicate glasses

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 1128-1129
Author(s):  
S.D. Dascomb ◽  
D.G. Howitt
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Phase Separation ◽  
Radiation Damage ◽  
Bubble Formation ◽  
Borosilicate Glasses ◽  
Phase Decomposition ◽  
Damage Rate ◽  
Oxygen Bubble ◽  
Gamma Irradiated

Oxygen bubble formation has been observed in sodasilicate glasses during irradiation. Although the irradiation always produces a consistent microstructure of oxygen microbubbles and an amorphous phase decomposition, there is a substantial difference between the rate at which the damage occurs. When a sample has been previously gamma irradiated, the damage occurs at much greater rates when compared to in situ irradiation in the electron microscope. It has been suggested that it is not the radiation damage rate that is responsible for this behavior but rather the presence of an electric fieldFigure 1 illustrates the microstructure found in a sodasilicate glasses showing the characteristic bubble formation on the perimeter of the area illuminated by the beam and the phase separation within the interior.

Radiation Effects in Nuclear Waste Glasses

1981 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Denatale ◽  
D. K. Mcelfresh ◽  
D. G. Howitt
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Damage ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Radiation Effects ◽  
Bubble Formation ◽  
Waste Glass ◽  
Phase Decomposition ◽  
Saturated Water ◽  
Oxygen Bubble ◽  
Nuclear Waste Glass

ABSTRACTThe radiation damage of a nuclear waste glass is shown to be associated with enhanced phase decomposition, oxygen bubble formation, and, when the glass is exposed to air saturated water, enhanced leaching.

Di-imide: Some Physical and Chemical Properties, and the Kinetics and Stoichiometry of the Gas-phase Decomposition

1973 ◽  
Vol 51 (21) ◽  
pp. 3605-3619 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Willis ◽  
R. A. Back
Keyword(s):  
Gas Phase ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Phase Decomposition ◽  
Important Intermediate ◽  
Long Lifetime ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
Text Formation ◽  
Kinetics Of

Preparation of di-imide by passing hydrazine vapor through a microwave discharge yields mixtures with NH3 containing typically about 15% N2H2, estimated from the gases evolved on decomposition. The behavior of the mixture (which melts at −65 °C) on warming from −196 to −30 °C suggests a strong interaction between the components. Measurements of magnetic susceptibility and e.p.r. experiments showed that N2H2 is not strongly paramagnetic, which with other observations points to a singlet rather than a triplet ground-state.Di-imide can be vaporized efficiently, together with NH3, by rapid warming, and the vapor is surprisingly long-lived, with a typical half-life of several minutes at room temperature. The near-u.v. (3200–4400 Å) absorption spectrum of the vapor was photographed; it shows well-defined but diffuse bands, with εmax = 6(± 3) at 3450 Å.Di-imide decomposes at room temperature in two ways:[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]Formation of NH3 was not observed but cannot be ruled out. The decomposition of the vapor is complicated by a sizeable and variable decomposition that occurs rapidly during the vaporization. The stoichiometry of this and the vapor-phase decomposition depends on total pressure and di-imide concentration. The kinetics of the decomposition of the vapor were studied from 22 to 200 °C by following the disappearance of N2H2 by absorption of light at 3450 Å, or the formation of N2H4 by absorption at 2400 Å, and by mass spectrometry. The kinetics are complex and can be either first- or second-order, or mixed, depending on surface conditions. The effect of olefin additives on the decomposition was studied, and is also complex.Mechanisms for the decomposition are discussed, including the possible role of trans-cis isomerization. The relatively long lifetime found for di-imide in the gas phase suggests that it may be an important intermediate in many reactions of hydronitrogen systems.

Amorphization Kinetics of Zr (Cr,Fe)2 Under Ion Irradiation

1992 ◽  
Vol 279 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. T. Motta ◽  
L. M. Howe ◽  
P. R. Okamoto
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Irradiation ◽  
Ion Irradiation ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Argonne National Laboratory ◽  
Matrix Interface ◽  
Thin Foils ◽  
Intermetallic Precipitates ◽  
Kinetics Of

ABSTRACTThin foils of Zircaloy-4 were irradiated with 350 KeV 40Ar ions in the dual ion beam/HVEM facility at Argonne National Laboratory at 300 – 650 K. The irradiation-induced araorphization of the intermetallic precipitates Zr (Cr, Fe)2 and Zr2 (Ni, Fe) was studied in situ. For Zr (Cr,Fe)2 precipitates the dose-to-amorphization was found to increase exponentially with temperature, with a critical temperature of about 650 K. The amorphization morphology was shown to be homogeneous, with no preferential site for nucleation, in contrast to neutron-irradiation amorphization which started at the precipitate-matrix interface. For Zr2 (Ni,Fe) precipitates it was found that amorphization occurred at 550 K and 600 K, whereas in neutron irradiation no amorphization has been observed at those temperatures. The results are discussed in the context of the previous experimental results of neutron and electron irradiation and likely amorphization mechanisms are proposed.

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