Modeling the effects of oxidation-induced porosity on the elastic moduli of nuclear graphites

Lauren R. Olasov, Fan W. Zeng, James B. Spicer, Nidia C. Gallego, Cristian I. Contescu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Oxidation of nuclear graphites produces microstructural changes that affect the elastic moduli of these materials. It is widely accepted that the primary effect of oxidation is to increase porosity, but the related effect on the moduli cannot be explained satisfactorily by simply noting changes to porosity. In this work, models describing the elastic moduli of porous, polycrystalline graphite materials are developed to interpret experimental determinations of Young's modulus and shear modulus in two grades of nuclear graphite – IG-110 and NBG-18 – that were oxidized to produce varying levels of porosity. Experimental measurements were carried out using laser-based ultrasonic methods and were interpreted successfully using models that take into account the effects of preferential oxidation of different elements of the graphite microstructure. The results indicate the importance of the processes that lead to increased porosity since these can heavily influence the nature of the resulting structure-property relationships.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)304-315
Number of pages12
JournalCarbon
Volume141
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2019

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) Contract No. 00118687 . Research at ORNL was performed collaboratively with Johns Hopkins University under the DOE Work for Others (WFO) Program. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) Contract No. 00118687. Research at ORNL was performed collaboratively with Johns Hopkins University under the DOE Work for Others (WFO) Program.

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