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Title: Uranium vacancy mobility at the Σ5 symmetric tilt and Σ5 twist grain boundaries in UO₂

Abstract

Ionic transport at grain boundaries in oxides dictates a number of important phenomena, from ionic conductivity to sintering to creep. For nuclear fuels, it also influences fission gas bubble nucleation and growth. Here, using a combination of atomistic calculations and object kinetic Monte Carlo (okMC) simulations, we examine the kinetic pathways associated with uranium vacancies at two model grain boundaries in UO2. The barriers for vacancy motion were calculated using the nudged elastic band method at all uranium sites at each grain boundary and were used as the basis of the okMC simulations. For both boundaries considered – a simple tilt and a simple twist boundary – the mobility of uranium vacancies is significantly higher than in the bulk. For the tilt boundary, there is clearly preferred migration along the tilt axis as opposed to in the perpendicular direction while, for the twist boundary, migration is essentially isotropic within the boundary plane. These results show that cation defect mobility in fluorite-structured materials is enhanced at certain types of grain boundaries and is dependent on the boundary structure with the tilt boundary exhibiting higher rates of migration than the twist boundary.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1221567
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1250297
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-22895
Journal ID: ISSN 0927-0256; PII: S0927025615003766
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Computational Materials Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 108; Journal Issue: Part A; Journal ID: ISSN 0927-0256
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; urania; grain boundaries, cation migration, kinetic Monte Carlo

Citation Formats

Uberuaga, Blas Pedro, and Andersson, David A. Uranium vacancy mobility at the Σ5 symmetric tilt and Σ5 twist grain boundaries in UO₂. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1016/j.commatsci.2015.06.017.
Uberuaga, Blas Pedro, & Andersson, David A. Uranium vacancy mobility at the Σ5 symmetric tilt and Σ5 twist grain boundaries in UO₂. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2015.06.017
Uberuaga, Blas Pedro, and Andersson, David A. Thu . "Uranium vacancy mobility at the Σ5 symmetric tilt and Σ5 twist grain boundaries in UO₂". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2015.06.017. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1221567.
@article{osti_1221567,
title = {Uranium vacancy mobility at the Σ5 symmetric tilt and Σ5 twist grain boundaries in UO₂},
author = {Uberuaga, Blas Pedro and Andersson, David A.},
abstractNote = {Ionic transport at grain boundaries in oxides dictates a number of important phenomena, from ionic conductivity to sintering to creep. For nuclear fuels, it also influences fission gas bubble nucleation and growth. Here, using a combination of atomistic calculations and object kinetic Monte Carlo (okMC) simulations, we examine the kinetic pathways associated with uranium vacancies at two model grain boundaries in UO2. The barriers for vacancy motion were calculated using the nudged elastic band method at all uranium sites at each grain boundary and were used as the basis of the okMC simulations. For both boundaries considered – a simple tilt and a simple twist boundary – the mobility of uranium vacancies is significantly higher than in the bulk. For the tilt boundary, there is clearly preferred migration along the tilt axis as opposed to in the perpendicular direction while, for the twist boundary, migration is essentially isotropic within the boundary plane. These results show that cation defect mobility in fluorite-structured materials is enhanced at certain types of grain boundaries and is dependent on the boundary structure with the tilt boundary exhibiting higher rates of migration than the twist boundary.},
doi = {10.1016/j.commatsci.2015.06.017},
journal = {Computational Materials Science},
number = Part A,
volume = 108,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Cited by: 4 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

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