First-principles study of transition-metal nitrides as diffusion barriers against Al

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.10.048· OSTI ID:1391748

Mei, Zhi-Gang; Yacout, Abdellatif M.; Kim, Yeon Soo; Hofman, Gerard; Stan, Marius

Using density-functional theory based first-principles calculations we provided a comparative study of the diffusion barrier properties of TiN, ZrN, and HfN against Al for U-Mo dispersion fuel applications. We firstly examined the thermodynamic stability of these transition-metal nitrides with Al. The calculated heats of reaction show that both TiN and ZrN are thermodynamically unstable diffusion barrier materials, which might be decomposed by Al at relatively high temperatures. As a comparison, HfN is a stable diffusion barrier material for Al. To evaluate the kinetic stability of these nitride systems against Al diffusion, we investigated the diffusion mechanisms of Al in TiN, ZrN and HfN using atomic scale simulations. The effect of non-stoichiometry on the defect formation and Al migration was systematically studied. (C) 2015 ELSEVIER B.V. All rights reserved

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1391748
• Journal Information: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 471, Issue C; ISSN 0022-3115
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Diffusion barrier
First-principles calculations
U-Mo dispersion fuel