Observations of Ag diffusion in ion implanted SiC

Journal Article · Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.03.027· OSTI ID:1302911

Gerczak, Tyler J. ^[1]; Leng, Bin ^[1]; Sridharan, Kumar ^[1]; Giordani, Andrew J. ^[2]; Allen, Todd R. ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
2. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (United States)

The nature and magnitude of Ag diffusion in SiC has been a topic of interest in connection with the performance of tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated particle fuel for high temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactors. Ion implantation diffusion couples have been revisited to continue developing a more complete understanding of Ag fission product diffusion in SiC. Ion implantation diffusion couples fabricated from single crystal 4H-SiC and polycrystalline 3C-SiC substrates and exposed to 1500–1625°C, were investigated in this study by transmission electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The high dynamic range of SIMS allowed for multiple diffusion régimes to be investigated, including enhanced diffusion by implantation-induced defects and grain boundary (GB) diffusion in undamaged SiC. Lastly, estimated diffusion coefficients suggest GB diffusion in bulk SiC does not properly describe the release observed from TRISO fuel.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725; AC07-05ID14517; 11-2988; AC07-051D14517
• OSTI ID: 1302911
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1246640
• Journal Information: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 461; ISSN 0022-3115
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
Silicon carbide
TRISO
ion implantation
silver
diffusion