Radiation effects on interface reactions of U/Fe, U/(Fe+Cr), and U/(Fe+Cr+Ni)

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2014.09.046· OSTI ID:1177664

Shao, Lin ^[1]; Chen, Di ^[1]; Wei, Chaochen ^[1]; Martin, Michael S. ^[1]; Wang, Xuemei ^[1]; Park, Youngjoo ^[2]; Dein, Ed ^[2]; Coffey, Kevin R. ^[2]; Sohn, Yongho ^[2]; Sencer, Bulent H. ^[3]; Rory Kennedy, J. ^[3]

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1. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
2. Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States). Materials Science and Engineering
3. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Materials and Nuclear Fuel Performance

We study the effects of radiation damage on interdiffusion and intermetallic phase formation at the interfaces of U/Fe, U/(Fe + Cr), and U/(Fe + Cr + Ni) diffusion couples. Magnetron sputtering is used to deposit thin films of Fe, Fe + Cr, or Fe + Cr + Ni on U substrates to form the diffusion couples. One set of samples are thermally annealed under high vacuum at 450 C or 550 C for one hour. A second set of samples are annealed identically but with concurrent 3.5 MeV Fe++ ion irradiation. The Fe++ ion penetration depth is sufficient to reach the original interfaces. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry analysis with high fidelity spectral simulations is used to obtain interdiffusion profiles, which are used to examine differences in U diffusion and intermetallic phase formation at the buried interfaces. For all three diffusion systems, Fe++ ion irradiations enhance U diffusion. Furthermore, the irradiations accelerate the formation of intermetallic phases. In U/Fe couples, for example, the unirradiated samples show typical interdiffusion governed by Fick’s laws, while the irradiated ones show step-like profiles influenced by Gibbs phase rules.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1177664
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1246620
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-14-33820; PII: S0022311514006369; TRN: US1500495
• Journal Information: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 456, Issue C; ISSN 0022-3115
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
interdiffusion
fuel–cladding