Enhanced structural stability of nanoporous zirconia under irradiation of He

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2012 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2012.05.014· OSTI ID:1095737

Yang, Tengfei ^[1]; Huang, Xuejun ^[1]; Wang, Chenxu ^[1]; Zhang, Yanwen ^[2]; Xue, Jianming ^[1]; Yan, Sha ^[1]; Wang, Yuguang ^[1]

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1. Peking University
2. ORNL

This work reports a greatly enhanced tolerance for He irradiation-induced swelling in nanocrystalline zirconia film with interconnected nanoporous structure (hereinafter referred as to NC-C). Compared to bulk yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and another nanocrystalline zirconia film only with discrete nano voids (hereinafter referred as to NC-V), the NC-C film reveals good tolerance for irradiation of high-fluence He. No appreciable surface blistering can be found even at the highest fluence of 6 1017 cm2 in NCC film. From TEM analysis of as-irradiated samples, the enhanced tolerance for volume swelling in NCC film is attributed to the enhanced diffusion mechanism of deposited He via widely distributed nano channels. Furthermore, the growth of grain size is quite small for both nanocrystalline zirconia films after irradiation, which is ascribed to the decreasing of area of grain boundary due to loose structure and low energy of primary knock-on atoms for He ions.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1095737
• Journal Information: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 427, Issue 1-3; ISSN 0022-3115
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English