Abstract
Glassy carbon, a monoatomic allotrope of carbon, is a candidate material for components in fission nuclear power systems due to its radiation tolerance. This article presents comprehensive electron microscopy data revealing the effects of neutron and electron irradiation on glassy carbon. For comparison, additional data are provided for pyrolytic graphite and carbon fibers, materials that exhibit similar structural behavior under irradiation. In situ electron irradiation experiments further illustrate the real-time microstructural evolution of glassy carbon during exposure. The dataset is organized into five parts: (1) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs of as-received and neutron-irradiated glassy carbon; (2) TEM micrographs of neutron-irradiated graphite; (3) TEM micrographs of unirradiated and irradiated carbon–carbon composites; (4) TEM micrographs of pyrolytic carbon specimens in both conditions; (5) scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) micrographs of as-received and neutron-irradiated glassy carbon and (6) in situ electron irradiation data of a glassy carbon particle. These datasets provide valuable insights into radiation-induced structural changes in carbon-based materials relevant to nuclear applications.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 111918 |
| Journal | Data in Brief |
| Volume | 62 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2025 |
Funding
This work was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy , under the Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) program . A portion of this work was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07- 051D14517 as part of a Nuclear Science User facilities experiment , “Microstructural characterization of neutron irradiated C–C composites” ( 23–1908 ). A portion of this research used the resources of the Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis Laboratory, a DOE Office of Science research facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Neutron irradiation was supported by the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences under contract DE- AC05–00OR22725 and by IMR Tohoku University under contract NFE- 13–04416 with UT-Battelle, LLC. The post-irradiation examination was also partially supported by the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences , Fusion Materials Program . The STEM portion of this research was supported by ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences , which is a DOE Office of Science user facility. The authors would like to thank Hughie Spinoza for his valuable comments and discussion. This work was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, under the Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) program. A portion of this work was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07- 051D14517 as part of a Nuclear Science User facilities experiment, “Microstructural characterization of neutron irradiated C–C composites” (23–1908). A portion of this research used the resources of the Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis Laboratory, a DOE Office of Science research facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Neutron irradiation was supported by the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences under contract DE- AC05–00OR22725 and by IMR Tohoku University under contract NFE- 13–04416 with UT-Battelle, LLC. The post-irradiation examination was also partially supported by the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, Fusion Materials Program. The STEM portion of this research was supported by ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science user facility. The authors would like to thank Hughie Spinoza for his valuable comments and discussion. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Keywords
- Carbon materials
- Microscopy
- Neutron irradiation
- Nuclear ceramic materials
- TEM