Heavy Ion Irradiation of Zirconate Pyrochlores

2002 ◽  
Vol 713 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lian ◽  
L. M. Wang ◽  
J. Chen ◽  
R. C. Ewing ◽  
K. V. G. Kutty

ABSTRACTZirconate pyrochlores, A2Zr2O7, are important potential nuclear waste forms for Puimmobilization. The binary Gd2(Ti2-xZrx)O7 has been shown to have increasing resistance to ionirradiation damage with the increasing Zr content, and Gd2Zr2O7 is radiation resistant to a 1 MeV Kr+ ion irradiation at 25 K to a dose of 5 dpa. In this study, a 1.5 MeV Xe+ irradiation was completed for zirconate pyrochlores A2Zr2O7 (A=La, Nd, Sm, Gd). The radiation resistance decreases with an increase of the ionic radius of A-site cation. La2Zr2O7 is the first zirconate pyrochlore to be amorphized by ion beam irradiation, and the critical amorphization temperature, Tc, is ∼310 K. The susceptibility of La2Zr2O7 to ion beam damage is related to its structure, which shows the largest deviation from the ideal fluorite structure. These results are also consistent with calculations of the cation antisite formation energy in the pyrochlore structure. The ion irradiation-induced pyrochlore-to-fluorite transformation occurred in all of the irradiated zirconate pyrochlore phases. Based on the results for Gd2Ti2-xZrxO7 and A2Zr2O7, the defect fluorite structures are stable when the ionic radii ratio rA/rB≤1.54; beyond this limit, the defect fluorite structure becomes increasingly unstable relative to the amorphous state.

2002 ◽  
Vol 713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Lian ◽  
Sergey V. Yudintsev ◽  
Sergey V. Stefanovsky ◽  
Olga I. Kirjanova ◽  
Rodney C. Ewing

ABSTRACTMurataite A4B2C7O22-x, where A = Na+, Ca2+, REE3+, An3+/4+; B = Mn2+/3+, Zn2+; C = Ti4+, Fe3+, Al3+; 0≤x≤1, is an isometric, derivative of the fluorite-structure. Murataite is potentially suitable as a phase for the immobilization of rare earth (REE) and actinide elements (An). Murataite structures with three-(3C), five-(5C), and eight-fold (8C) multiples of the fluorite unit cell parameters have been identified. Radiation-induced amorphization of murataite has been investigated by 1 MeV Kr+ ion irradiation of three ceramic samples produced by melting in a resistive furnace and a cold crucible at 1400-1600 °C. The 1 MeV Kr+ ion irradiations were performed at room temperature using IVEM-Tandem Facility at Argonne National Laboratory. Radiation damage was observed by in-situ TEM. Initially, the irradiation caused disordering of the murataite structure. Murataite was rendered fully amorphous at a dose of (1.7∼1.9)Á1018 ion/m2. The pyrochlore structure phase (2C) is more radiation resistant to ion irradiation-induced amorphization than the murataite structure. Combining results on murataite with those pyrochlore and fluorite, a generally increasing trend in the susceptibility to ion beam damage is found in the fluorite-related structures as a function of the increasing multiples of the fluorite unit cells.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Sherrod ◽  
Eric C. O’Quinn ◽  
Igor M. Gussev ◽  
Cale Overstreet ◽  
Joerg Neuefeind ◽  
...  

AbstractThe structural response of Dy2TiO5 oxide under swift heavy ion irradiation (2.2 GeV Au ions) was studied over a range of structural length scales utilizing neutron total scattering experiments. Refinement of diffraction data confirms that the long-range orthorhombic structure is susceptible to ion beam-induced amorphization with limited crystalline fraction remaining after irradiation to 8 × 1012 ions/cm2. In contrast, the local atomic arrangement, examined through pair distribution function analysis, shows only subtle changes after irradiation and is still described best by the original orthorhombic structural model. A comparison to Dy2Ti2O7 pyrochlore oxide under the same irradiation conditions reveals a different behavior: while the dysprosium titanate pyrochlore is more radiation resistant over the long-range with smaller degree of amorphization as compared to Dy2TiO5, the former involves more local atomic rearrangements, best described by a pyrochlore-to-weberite-type transformation. These results highlight the importance of short-range and medium-range order analysis for a comprehensive description of radiation behavior.


Author(s):  
Charles W. Allen ◽  
Robert C. Birtcher

The uranium silicides, including U3Si, are under study as candidate low enrichment nuclear fuels. Ion beam simulations of the in-reactor behavior of such materials are performed because a similar damage structure can be produced in hours by energetic heavy ions which requires years in actual reactor tests. This contribution treats one aspect of the microstructural behavior of U3Si under high energy electron irradiation and low dose energetic heavy ion irradiation and is based on in situ experiments, performed at the HVEM-Tandem User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory. This Facility interfaces a 2 MV Tandem ion accelerator and a 0.6 MV ion implanter to a 1.2 MeV AEI high voltage electron microscope, which allows a wide variety of in situ ion beam experiments to be performed with simultaneous irradiation and electron microscopy or diffraction.At elevated temperatures, U3Si exhibits the ordered AuCu3 structure. On cooling below 1058 K, the intermetallic transforms, evidently martensitically, to a body-centered tetragonal structure (alternatively, the structure may be described as face-centered tetragonal, which would be fcc except for a 1 pet tetragonal distortion). Mechanical twinning accompanies the transformation; however, diferences between electron diffraction patterns from twinned and non-twinned martensite plates could not be distinguished.


2012 ◽  
Vol 167 (7) ◽  
pp. 506-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Devaraju ◽  
S. V.S. Nageswara Rao ◽  
N. Srinivasa Rao ◽  
V. Saikiran ◽  
T. K. Chan ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 558-559
Author(s):  
K. E. Sickafus

In ion irradiation damage studies on ceramics, damage evolution is often assessed using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and ion channeling (RBS/C) techniques. In a typical experiment, a single crystal ceramic sample is irradiated with heavy ions and then the crystal is exposed to He ions along a low-index crystallographic orientation. Simultaneously, the backscattered He ion yield is measured as a function of ion energy loss. For He ions scattered from the heavy ion irradiated volume, the He ion yield increases in proportion to the heavy ion dose. The RBS/C yield rises because the He ion beam is dechanneled by, for instance, interstitial point defects and clusters and their associated strain fields. A quantitative measure of dechanneling is denoted by χmin, defined as the ratio of the He ion yield along a low-index crystal orientation, to the yield obtained in a random (non-channeling) orientation. The damage parameter xmin varies from 0 to 1, where 1 represents the maximum damage level that can be measured by RBS/C.


2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 1575-1580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Lian ◽  
Rodney C. Ewing ◽  
L.M. Wang ◽  
K.B. Helean

Ceramics with III-IV pyrochlore compositions, A3+2B4+2O7 (A = Y and rare earth elements; B = Ti, Zr, Sn, or Hf), show a wide range of responses to ion-beam irradiation. To evaluate the role of the B-site cations on the radiation stability ofthe pyrochlore structure-type, Gd2Sn2O7 and Gd2Hf2O7 have been irradiated by1 MeV Kr+. The results are discussed in terms of the ionic size and type ofbonding of Sn4+ and Hf4+ and compared to previous results for titanate andzirconate pyrochlores. Gd2Sn2O7 is sensitive to ion beam–induced amorphizationwith a critical amorphization dose of approximately 3.4 displacements per atom(dpa) (2.62 × 1015 ions/cm2) at room temperature and a critical amorphization temperature of approximately 350 K. Gd2Hf2O7 does not become amorphous at adose of approximately 4.54 displacement per [lattice] atom (3.13 × 1015 ions/cm2) at room temperature, but instead is transformed to a disordered fluorite structure upon ion-beam irradiation. Although the radius ratio of the A- to B-site cations provides a general indication of the type of radiation response of different pyrochlore compositions, the results for Gd2Sn2O7 emphasize the importance of bond type, particularly the covalency of the 〈Sn–O〉 bond in determining the radiation response.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Shu-Yang Wang ◽  
Yong-Heng Bo ◽  
Xiang Zhou ◽  
Ji-Hong Chen ◽  
Wen-Jian Li ◽  
...  

Heavy-ion irradiation technology has advantages over traditional methods of mutagenesis. Heavy-ion irradiation improves the mutation rate, broadens the mutation spectrum, and shortens the breeding cycle. However, few data are currently available regarding its effect onStreptomyces avermitilismorphology and productivity. In this study, the influence of heavy-ion irradiation onS. avermitiliswhen cultivated in approximately 10 L stirred-tank bioreactors was investigated. The specific productivity of the avermectin (AVM) B1a-producing mutantS. avermitilis147-G58 increased notably, from 3885 to 5446 μg/mL, approximately 1.6-fold, compared to the original strain. The mycelial morphology of the mutant fermentation processes was microscopically examined. Additionally, protein and metabolite identification was performed by using SDS-PAGE, 2- and 3-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE and 3DE). The results showed that negative regulation gene deletion of mutants led to metabolic process upregulating expression of protein and improving the productivity of an avermectin B1a. The results showed that the heavy-ion beam irradiation dose that corresponded to optimal production was well over the standard dose, at approximately 80 Gy at 220 AMeV (depending on the strain). This study provides reliable data and a feasible method for increasing AVM productivity in industrial processes.


1998 ◽  
Vol 540 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Meldrum ◽  
L.A. Boatner ◽  
C.W. White ◽  
D.O. Henderson

AbstractRadiation effects in nonmetals have been studied for well over a century by geologists, mineralogists, physicists, and materials scientists. The present work focuses on recent results of investigations of the ion-beam-induced amorphization of the ABO4 compounds – including the orthophosphates (LnPO4; Ln = lanthanides) and the orthosilicates: zircon (ZrSiO4), hafnon (HfSiO4), and thorite (ThSiO4). In the case of the orthosilicates, heavy-ion irradiation at elevated temperatures causes the precipitation of a nanocrystalline metal oxide. Electron irradiation effects in these amorphized insulating ceramics can produce localized recrystallization on a nanometer scale. Similar electron irradiation techniques were used to nucleate monodispersed compound semiconductor nanocrystals formed by ion implantation of the elemental components into fused silica. Methods for the formation of novel structural relationships between embedded nanocrystals and their hosts have been developed and the results presented here demonstrate the general flexibility of ion implantation and irradiation techniques for producing unique near-surface microstructures in ion-implanted host materials.


1996 ◽  
Vol 439 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Müller ◽  
M. L. Jenkins ◽  
C. Abromeit ◽  
H. Wollenberger

AbstractStereo transmission electron microscopy has been used to characterise the distribution in depth of disordered zones and associated dislocation loops in the ordered alloys Ni3Al and Cu3Au after heavy ion irradiation, most extensively for Ni3Al irradiated with 50 keV Ta+ ions at a temperature of 573 K. The Cu3Au specimen was irradiated with 50 keV Ni+ ions at an incident angle of 45° at a temperature of 373 K. In Ni3Al the defect yield, i.e. the probability for a disordered zone to contain a loop was found to be strongly dependent on the depth of the zone in the foil, varying from about 0.7 for near-surface zones to about 0.2 in the bulk. The sizes and shapes of disordered zones were only weakly dependent on depth, except for a small population of zones very near the surface which were strongly elongated parallel to the incident ion beam. In Cu3Au the surface had a smaller but still significant effect on the defect yield. The dependence of the tranverse disordered zone diameter d on ion energy E for Ta+ irradiation of NiA was found to follow a relationship d = k1, E1/α with k, = 2.4 ± 0.4 and α = 3.3 ± 0.4. A similar relationship with the same value of α is valid for a wide variety of incident ion/target combinations found in the literature.


1995 ◽  
Vol 396 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Iwase ◽  
L. E. Rehn ◽  
P. M. Baldo ◽  
L. Funk

AbstractThe effects of cascade remnants on Freely Migrating Defects (FMD) were studied by measuring Radiation-Induced Segregation (RIS) in Cu-l%Au at 400°C during simultaneous irradiation with 1.5-MeV He and (400-800)-keV heavy ions (Ne, Ar or Cu). The large RIS observed during 1.5-MeV He-only irradiation was dramatically suppressed under simultaneous heavy ion irradiation. For Cu simultaneous irradiation, the suppression disappeared immediately after the Cu irradiation ceased, while for simultaneous inert gas (Ne or Ar) irradiation, the suppression persisted after the ion beam was turned off. These results demonstrate that the displacement cascades created by heavy ions introduce additional annihilation sites, which reduce the steady-state FMD concentrations. As the cascade remnants produced by Cu ions are thermally unstable at 400°C, the RIS suppression occurs only during simultaneous irradiation. On the other hand, the inert gas atoms which accumulate in the specimen apparently stabilize the cascade remnants, allowing the suppression to persist.


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