Abstract
The irradiation temperature of silicon carbide (SiC) was determined post-irradiation by examination of the recovery of the electrical resistivity due to thermal annealing in a rapid heating/cooling optical furnace. High-purity, high-resistivity grade SiC is routinely used as a passive temperature monitor in neutron irradiation studies at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), and this paper presents an alternative automated technique for determination of the irradiation temperature the SiC experienced. Neutron collisions with the atoms results in displaced lattice atoms (interstitials) that act as electron donors yielding a significant decrease in electrical resistivity. The irradiation defects become thermodynamically unstable and start to recombine, when annealed above the irradiation temperature, resulting in a recovery of the electrical resistivity. The resistivity is measured at a fixed elevated temperature above ambient, which is below the target irradiation temperature. When the resistivity is plotted as a function of annealing temperatures, a clear increase is observed due to the recovery of irradiation defects. We have demonstrated that this electrical resistivity measurement of SiC is effective to determine irradiation temperature of SiC. Energy levels of various defects in SiC were calculated from Arrhenius plots of electrical conductivity versus inverse temperature.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 152370 |
| Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
| Volume | 540 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2020 |
Funding
The authors would like to thank Bill Comings for sectioning the SiC TMs, LAMDA Radiation Control Technician (RCT) team for their support, Stephanie M. Curlin for the CTE measurement. The work presented was performed as a part of the U.S. – Japan PHENIX Cooperation Project on Technological Assessment of Plasma Facing Components for DEMO Reactors, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Fusion Energy Sciences and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan under DOE contract NFE-13-04416 with UT-Battelle, LLC. A portion of this research used resources at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science User Facility. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle LLC, for the Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05000OR22725. Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). The authors would like to thank Bill Comings for sectioning the SiC TMs, LAMDA Radiation Control Technician (RCT) team for their support, Stephanie M. Curlin for the CTE measurement. The work presented was performed as a part of the U.S. – Japan PHENIX Cooperation Project on Technological Assessment of Plasma Facing Components for DEMO Reactors, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Fusion Energy Sciences and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan under DOE contract NFE-13-04416 with UT-Battelle, LLC. A portion of this research used resources at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science User Facility. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle LLC, for the Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05000OR22725 .
Keywords
- Electrical resistivity
- Irradiation temperature
- Neutron irradiation
- SiC