Modeling irradiation creep of graphite using rate theory

Journal Article · Sat Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2016.01.036· OSTI ID:1261400

Sarkar, Apu ^[1]; Eapen, Jacob ^[1]; Raj, Anant ^[1]; Murty, K. L. ^[1]; Burchell, T. D. ^[2]

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1. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

In this work we examined irradiation induced creep of graphite in the framework of transition state rate theory. Experimental data for two grades of nuclear graphite (H-337 and AGOT) were analyzed to determine the stress exponent (n) and activation energy (Q) for plastic flow under irradiation. Here we show that the mean activation energy lies between 0.14 and 0.32 eV with a mean stress-exponent of 1.0 ± 0.2. A stress exponent of unity and the unusually low activation energies strongly indicate a diffusive defect transport mechanism for neutron doses in the range of 3-4 x 10²² n/cm².

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1261400
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1345241
• Journal Information: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 473, Issue C; ISSN 0022-3115
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Graphite
Creep
Irradiation
Activation energy