Abstract
Micrographs of multiple nuclear graphite grades were captured using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), complementing the data contained in the related manuscript, “A multi-technique image library of nuclear graphite microstructures of historical and modern grades.” The SEM micrographs show the differences among filler particles, binder, and thermal cracks contained in nuclear graphite. This library of microstructures serves as a baseline of as-received material and enables understanding the phases and differences between nuclear grades. TEM micrographs included in this manuscript elucidate the content of a common material contained in the binder phase known as quinoline insoluble (QI) particles. These particles are a phase of graphite that can be used as a forensic fingerprint of the neutron irradiation effects in graphite. The manuscript also contains some data of glassy carbon, an allotrope of carbon that shares similarities with some of the chaotic structures in nuclear graphite. Combined, these micrographs provide a detailed overview of the microstructures of various graphite grades prior to neutron irradiation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 108808 |
| Journal | Data in Brief |
| Volume | 46 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2023 |
Funding
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 ). This work was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy, under the Advanced Reactor Technologies program. This work was also supported by the Office of Nuclear Energy under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07- 051D14517 as part of a Nuclear Science User Facilities experiment. 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). ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 . Lee Margetts was supported by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grants EP/N026136/1 and EP/T026782/1 awarded in the United Kingdom. The authors would like to thank Hughie Spinoza for his valuable comments and discussion.
Keywords
- Characterization
- Microscopy
- Nuclear graphite
- SEM
- TEM