3He bubble evolution in ErT2: A survey of experimental results

C. S. Snow, J. F. Browning, G. M. Bond, M. A. Rodriguez, J. A. Knapp

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

For the past several years we have been carrying out a long term experimental study of 3He in ErT2 (erbium di-tritide). This study has attempted to answer questions regarding the evolution of helium bubbles in ErT2-x Hex. ErT2 samples have been studied periodically over four years using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Nano-Indentation (NI). In ErT2 -x Hex, helium bubbles are plate-like and grow along {1 1 1} planes. The bubbles grow in three distinct phases. First, they nucleate and grow as "Griffith-cracks" until an age of ∼0.15 He:M. Second, around 0.15 He:M the diameter stops increasing and instead the bubbles grow in thickness by punching dislocation dipoles. Third, the bubbles grow in size until ∼0.3 He:M at which point the bubbles begin to link.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)296-306
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Nuclear Materials
Volume453
Issue number1-3
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2014

Funding

The authors would like to thank J.C. Banks for Ion Beam Analysis of many of the samples studied during the course of this work. We also thank G. Bryant and B. Ritchey for preparing the excellent TEM samples without which much of this work would not be possible. This work was performed at and supported by Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energys National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000 . Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Sciences-Materials Science under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle LLC.

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