Abstract
Abstract 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 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. Estimated diffusion coefficients suggest GB diffusion in bulk SiC does not properly describe the release observed from TRISO fuel.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 48996 |
| Pages (from-to) | 314-324 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
| Volume | 461 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2015 |
Funding
The authors would like to thank Prof. Izabela Szlufarska and Prof. Dane Morgan for their critical discussions concerning the topic of Ag diffusion in SiC. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Ovidiu Toader for conducting the Ag implantations at the MIBL. A portion of this research utilized National Science Foundation (NSF) supported shared facilities at the University of Wisconsin. This work supported by the US DOE, Office of Nuclear Energy Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) , award no. 11-2988 and by the US DOE, Office of Nuclear Energy under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07-051D14517 , as part of an ATR-NSUF experiment.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-AC07-051D14517 |
| Office of Nuclear Energy | |
| Nuclear Energy University Program | 11-2988 |