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Title: Impurity precipitation in atomized particles evidenced by nano x-ray diffraction computed tomography

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4894009· OSTI ID:22311000
 [1]; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. ESRF - The European Synchrotron, CS 40220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9 (France)
  2. CEA, DEN, DEC, F-13108 St Paul Lez Durance Cedex (France)

Performances and physical properties of high technology materials are influenced or even determined by their initial microstructure and by the behavior of impurity phases. Characterizing these impurities and their relations with the surrounding matrix is therefore of primary importance but it unfortunately often requires a destructive approach, with the risk of misinterpreting the observations. The improvement we have done in high resolution X-ray diffraction computed tomography combined with the use of an X-ray nanoprobe allows non-destructive crystallographic description of materials with microscopic heterogeneous microstructure (with a grain size between 10 nm and 10 μm). In this study, the grain localization in a 2D slice of a 20 μm solidified atomized γU-Mo particle is shown and a minority U(C,O) phase (1 wt. %) with sub-micrometer sized grains was characterized inside. Evidence is presented showing that the onset of U(C,O) grain crystallization can be described by a precipitation mechanism since one single U-Mo grain has direct orientation relationship with more than one surrounding U(C,O) grains.

OSTI ID:
22311000
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English