Microstructure changes and thermal conductivity reduction in UO2 following 3.9 MeV He2+ ion irradiation

Janne Pakarinen, Marat Khafizov, Lingfeng He, Chris Wetteland, Jian Gan, Andrew T. Nelson, David H. Hurley, Anter El-Azab, Todd R. Allen

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38 Scopus citations

Abstract

The microstructural changes and associated effects on thermal conductivity were examined in UO2 after irradiation using 3.9 MeV He2+ ions. Lattice expansion of UO2 was observed in X-ray diffraction after ion irradiation up to 5 × 1016 He2+/cm 2 at low-temperature (<200 °C). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed homogenous irradiation damage across an 8 μm thick plateau region, which consisted of small dislocation loops accompanied by dislocation segments. Dome-shaped blisters were observed at the peak damage region (depth around 8.5 μm) in the sample subjected to 5 × 10 16 He2+/cm2, the highest fluence reached, while similar features were not detected at 9 × 1015 He 2+/cm2. Laser-based thermo-reflectance measurements showed that the thermal conductivity for the irradiated layer decreased about 55% for the high fluence sample and 35% for the low fluence sample as compared to an un-irradiated reference sample. Detailed analysis for the thermal conductivity indicated that the conductivity reduction was caused by the irradiation induced point defects.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)283-289
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Nuclear Materials
Volume454
Issue number1-3
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2014
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work was supported as a part of the Center for Materials Science of Nuclear Fuel, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The FIB and TEM work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07-051D14517, as part of an ATR National Scientific User Facility experiment.

FundersFunder number
U.S. Department of EnergyDE-AC07-051D14517
Office of Science
Office of Nuclear Energy
Basic Energy Sciences

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