Microstructural and nanomechanical studies of PVD Cr coatings on SiC for LWR fuel cladding applications

Quillin, Kyle; Yeom, Hwasung; Dabney, Tyler; Willing, Evan; Sridharan, Kumar

doi:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2022.128577

Microstructural and nanomechanical studies of PVD Cr coatings on SiC for LWR fuel cladding applications

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Surface and Coatings Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2022.128577· OSTI ID:1977678

Quillin, Kyle ^[1]; Yeom, Hwasung ^[2]; Dabney, Tyler ^[2]; Willing, Evan ^[2]; Sridharan, Kumar ^[2]

Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); OSTI
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

The microstructure and nanomechanical properties of pure Cr coatings deposited on SiC with various physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods have been investigated for the mitigation of hydrothermal corrosion of SiC-SiC_f (SiC fiber-reinforced SiC matrix) composite fuel cladding in light water reactors (LWR). Cr coatings (4–7 μm thick) were deposited on unbiased SiC substrates using six variants of magnetron sputtering processes: (i) standard (S-DCMS), (ii) pulsed (P-DCMS), (iii) ion-assisted (I-DCMS), and (iv) pulsed ion-assisted direct current magnetron sputtering (PI-DCMS), (v) high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), and (vi) bipolar HiPIMS (B-HiPIMS). Microstructural characterization and nanoindentation testing were used to evaluate effects of deposition technique on coating microstructure and nanomechanical properties. The application of positive reverse pulses to the sputter target induced coarsening of the columnar grain structure, while ion bombardment of substrates during deposition promoted densification of the coating microstructure. Both effects are exemplified in B-HiPIMS deposition, resulting in a high-density microstructure with compressive residual stress. Material pile-up around nano-indents and plastic work during nanoindentation were analyzed to understand deformation behavior of the coatings. Finally, the results suggest the B-HiPIMS process to be among the promising methods for the deposition of Cr coatings on SiC-SiC_f for LWR cladding application.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

Grant/Contract Number:: NE0008800

OSTI ID:: 1977678

Journal Information:: Surface and Coatings Technology, Journal Name: Surface and Coatings Technology Journal Issue: C Vol. 441; ISSN 0257-8972

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (53)

Stress and adhesion of chromium and boron films deposited under ion bombardment Barth, M.; Ensinger, W.; Hoffmann, V. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 59-60 https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-583X(91)95217-2	journal	July 1991
Residual stress in ion-assisted coatings Bull, S. Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 54-55 https://doi.org/10.1016/0257-8972(92)90158-7	journal	November 1992
Low energy ion-assisted deposition of metal films Roy, Ronnen Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 51, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/0257-8972(92)90239-7	journal	April 1992
Pulsed magnetron sputter technology Schiller, S.; Goedicke, K.; Reschke, J. Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 61, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/0257-8972(93)90248-M	journal	December 1993
Effects of deposition parameters on the texture of chromium films deposited by vacuum arc evaporation Gautier, C.; Machet, J. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 289, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(96)08891-8	journal	November 1996
Magnetron sputtering: a review of recent developments and applications Kelly, P. J.; Arnell, R. D. Vacuum, Vol. 56, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0042-207X(99)00189-X	journal	March 2000
Residual stresses and ion implantation effects in Cr thin films Misra, A.; Fayeulle, S.; Kung, H. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 148, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-583X(98)00780-0	journal	January 1999
Effects of the substrate on the determination of thin film mechanical properties by nanoindentation Saha, Ranjana; Nix, William D. Acta Materialia, Vol. 50, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6454(01)00328-7	journal	January 2002
Fracture related mechanical properties of low and high graphene reinforcement of epoxy nanocomposites Alexopoulos, Nikolaos D.; Paragkamian, Zafeiroula; Poulin, Philippe Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 150 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2017.07.030	journal	September 2017
Microstructure of nanoporous yttria-stabilized zirconia films fabricated by EB-PVD Jang, Byung-Koog; Matsubara, Hideaki Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Vol. 26, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2005.03.248	journal	January 2006
Experimental investigation on the indentation hardness of precursor derived Si–B–C–N ceramics Sujith, Ravindran; Kumar, Ravi Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Vol. 33, Issue 13-14 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2013.04.025	journal	November 2013
A review of third generation SiC fibers and SiCf/SiC composites Wang, Pengren; Liu, Fengqi; Wang, Hao Journal of Materials Science & Technology, Vol. 35, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmst.2019.07.020	journal	December 2019
Advanced oxidation-resistant iron-based alloys for LWR fuel cladding Terrani, K. A.; Zinkle, S. J.; Snead, L. L. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 448, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2013.06.041	journal	May 2014
Silicon carbide composite for light water reactor fuel assembly applications Yueh, Ken; Terrani, Kurt A. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 448, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2013.12.004	journal	May 2014
Fabrication and characterization of joined silicon carbide cylindrical components for nuclear applications Khalifa, H. E.; Deck, C. P.; Gutierrez, O. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 457 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2014.11.071	journal	February 2015
Hydrothermal corrosion of SiC in LWR coolant environments in the absence of irradiation Terrani, K. A.; Yang, Y.; Kim, Y. -J. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 465 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.06.019	journal	October 2015
Development and property evaluation of nuclear grade wrought FeCrAl fuel cladding for light water reactors Yamamoto, Y.; Pint, B. A.; Terrani, K. A. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 467 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.10.019	journal	December 2015
Dimensional stability and anisotropy of SiC and SiC-based composites in transition swelling regime Katoh, Yutai; Koyanagi, Takaaki; McDuffee, Joel L. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 499 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.12.009	journal	February 2018
Accident tolerant fuel cladding development: Promise, status, and challenges Terrani, Kurt A. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 501 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.12.043	journal	April 2018
Early studies on Cr-Coated Zircaloy-4 as enhanced accident tolerant nuclear fuel claddings for light water reactors Brachet, Jean-Christophe; Idarraga-Trujillo, Isabel; Flem, Marion Le Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 517 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.02.018	journal	April 2019
Development of cold spray chromium coatings for improved accident tolerant zirconium-alloy cladding Maier, Benjamin; Yeom, Hwasung; Johnson, Greg Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 519 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.03.039	journal	June 2019
Characterization of PVD Cr, CrN, and TiN coatings on SiC Mouche, P. A.; Ang, C.; Koyanagi, T. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 527 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151781	journal	December 2019
Evaluation of the effects of neutron irradiation on first-generation corrosion mitigation coatings on SiC for accident-tolerant fuel cladding Doyle, Peter J.; Koyanagi, Takaaki; Ang, Caen Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 536 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.152203	journal	August 2020
Hydrothermal Corrosion of First-Generation Dual-Purpose Coatings on Silicon Carbide for Accident-Tolerant Fuel Cladding Doyle, Peter J.; Ang, Caen; Snead, Lance Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 544 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.152695	journal	February 2021
Effects of sample bias on adhesion of magnetron sputtered Cr coatings on SiC Mouche, P. A.; Evans, A.; Zhong, W. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 556 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.153251	journal	December 2021
Investigation on methods for dealing with pile-up errors in evaluating the mechanical properties of thin metal films at sub-micron scale on hard substrates by nanoindentation technique Zhou, Xiangyang; Jiang, Zhuangde; Wang, Hairong Materials Science and Engineering: A, Vol. 488, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2008.01.020	journal	August 2008
High power pulsed magnetron sputtering: A review on scientific and engineering state of the art Sarakinos, K.; Alami, J.; Konstantinidis, S. Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 204, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2009.11.013	journal	February 2010
On the film density using high power impulse magnetron sputtering Samuelsson, Mattias; Lundin, Daniel; Jensen, Jens Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 205, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2010.07.041	journal	October 2010
Si incorporation in Ti1−xSixN films grown on TiN(001) and (001)-faceted TiN(111) columns Eriksson, A. O.; Tengstrand, O.; Lu, J. Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 257 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2014.05.043	journal	October 2014
Properties of chromium thin films deposited in a hollow cathode magnetron powered by pulsed DC or HiPIMS de Monteynard, Alexis; Schuster, Frédéric; Billard, Alain Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 330 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2017.10.006	journal	December 2017
Bipolar HiPIMS for tailoring ion energies in thin film deposition Keraudy, Julien; Viloan, Rommel Paulo B.; Raadu, Michael A. Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 359 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2018.12.090	journal	February 2019
Adhesion, structure, and mechanical properties of Cr HiPIMS and cathodic arc deposited coatings on SiC Mouche, Peter A.; Koyanagi, Takaaki; Patel, Deep Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 410 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2021.126939	journal	March 2021
A comparative study of CrNx coatings Synthesized by dc and pulsed dc magnetron sputtering Lin, J.; Wu, Z. L.; Zhang, X. H. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 517, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2008.09.093	journal	January 2009
Modulated pulse power sputtered chromium coatings Lin, Jianliang; Moore, John J.; Sproul, William D. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 518, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2009.09.118	journal	December 2009
Bipolar high power impulse magnetron sputtering for energetic ion bombardment during TiN thin film growth without the use of a substrate bias Viloan, Rommel Paulo B.; Gu, Jiabin; Boyd, Robert Thin Solid Films, Vol. 688 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2019.05.069	journal	October 2019
Improved film density for coatings at grazing angle of incidence in high power impulse magnetron sputtering with positive pulse Avino, F.; Fonnesu, D.; Koettig, T. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 706 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2020.138058	journal	July 2020
Experimental evaluation of direct current magnetron sputtered and high-power impulse magnetron sputtered Cr coatings on SiC for light water reactor applications Quillin, Kyle; Yeom, Hwasung; Dabney, Tyler Thin Solid Films, Vol. 716 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2020.138431	journal	December 2020
Effects of target voltage during pulse-off period in pulsed magnetron sputtering on afterglow plasma and deposited film structure Nakano, Takeo; Hirukawa, Norihiko; Saeki, Shuhei Vacuum, Vol. 87 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2012.03.010	journal	January 2013
Cu films prepared by bipolar pulsed high power impulse magnetron sputtering Wu, Baohua; Haehnlein, Ian; Shchelkanov, Ivan Vacuum, Vol. 150 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2018.01.011	journal	April 2018
Relationships between hardness, elastic modulus, and the work of indentation Cheng, Yang-Tse; Cheng, Che-Min Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 73, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.121873	journal	August 1998
On the relationship between the peak target current and the morphology of chromium nitride thin films deposited by reactive high power pulsed magnetron sputtering Alami, J.; Sarakinos, K.; Uslu, F. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 42, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/42/1/015304	journal	December 2008
Pile-up/sink-in of rate-sensitive nanoindentation creeping solids Elmustafa, A. A. Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 15, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1088/0965-0393/15/7/008	journal	October 2007
Physics and technology of magnetron sputtering discharges Gudmundsson, J. T. Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Vol. 29, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6595/abb7bd	journal	November 2020
Ion–assisted sputter deposition Colligon, John S. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 362, Issue 1814 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2003.1303	journal	November 2003
$\hbox{CrN}_{\rm x}$ Films Prepared by DC Magnetron Sputtering and High-Power Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering: A Comparative Study Greczynski, Grzegorz; Jensen, Jens; Hultman, Lars IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 38, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2010.2071885	journal	November 2010
Silicon Carbide Oxidation in Steam up to 2 MPa Terrani, Kurt A.; Pint, Bruce A.; Parish, Chad M. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 97, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.13094	journal	July 2014
Unveiling hermetic failure of ceramic tubes by digital image correlation and acoustic emission Bumgardner, Clifton H.; Heim, Frederick M.; Roache, David C. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 103, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.16854	journal	October 2019
An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments Oliver, W. C.; Pharr, G. M. Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 7, Issue 06, p. 1564-1583 https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1992.1564	journal	June 1992
Influences of pileup on the measurement of mechanical properties by load and depth sensing indentation techniques Bolshakov, A.; Pharr, G. M. Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 13, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1998.0146	journal	April 1998
Determination of indenter tip geometry and indentation contact area for depth-sensing indentation experiments McElhaney, K. W.; Vlassak, J. J.; Nix, W. D. Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 13, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1998.0185	journal	May 1998
Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: Advances in understanding and refinements to methodology Oliver, W. C.; Pharr, G. M. Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 19, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2004.19.1.3	journal	January 2004
Uncertainty of the X-ray Diffraction (XRD) sin2 ψ Technique in Measuring Residual Stresses of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Hard Coatings Luo, Quanshun; Yang, Shicai Coatings, Vol. 7, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings7080128	journal	August 2017
Hydrothermal Corrosion of Coatings on Silicon Carbide in Boiling Water Reactor Conditions Raiman, Stephen S.; Doyle, Peter; Ang, Caen CORROSION, Vol. 75, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.5006/2997	journal	November 2018

Similar Records

Effects of elevated temperature exposure on the residual stress state and microstructure of PVD Cr coatings on SiC investigated via in situ X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy

Journal Article · Wed Jun 07 20:00:00 EDT 2023 · Materials Science and Engineering. A, Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructure and Processing · OSTI ID:2228727

Experimental evaluation of direct current magnetron sputtered and high-power impulse magnetron sputtered Cr coatings on SiC for light water reactor applications

Journal Article · Wed Nov 11 19:00:00 EST 2020 · Thin Solid Films · OSTI ID:1850564

Deposition of nanoscale multilayer CrN/NbN physical vapor deposition coatings by high power impulse magnetron sputtering

Journal Article · Sat Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films · OSTI ID:21124025

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
DCMS
HiPIMS
Materials science
Physics
SiC fuel cladding
accident tolerant fuel
nanoindentation
pile up

Microstructural and nanomechanical studies of PVD Cr coatings on SiC for LWR fuel cladding applications

Citation Formats

References (53)

Similar Records

Related Subjects