TY - JOUR
T1 - STEM/EDS and APT study on the microstructure and microchemistry of neutron irradiated ZIRLOTM
AU - Yu, Zefeng
AU - Bachhav, Mukesh
AU - Teng, Fei
AU - He, Lingfeng
AU - Dubey, Megha
AU - Couet, Adrien
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07- 05ID14517 as part of a Nuclear Science User Facilities experiment. Support of NRC Faculty Development program is acknowledged. The author would like to thank Dr. Xiang Liu and Dr. Tiankai Yao from Idaho National Laboratory. The authors would like to thank the entire MUZIC community for insightful discussions and guidance over the years. Author would like to acknowledge support from staff members at CAES and IMCL facility with sample preparation and transfer work.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07- 05ID14517 as part of a Nuclear Science User Facilities experiment. Support of NRC Faculty Development program is acknowledged. The author would like to thank Dr. Xiang Liu and Dr. Tiankai Yao from Idaho National Laboratory. The authors would like to thank the entire MUZIC community for insightful discussions and guidance over the years. Author would like to acknowledge support from staff members at CAES and IMCL facility with sample preparation and transfer work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - A nanoscale characterization study was carried out on SRA ZIRLO™ at various cycles, aiming to highlight the effect of irradiation-induced alloying element (Sn, Nb, Fe) redistribution on the in-reactor corrosion kinetics. Using a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and atom probe tomography (APT) in both oxide and metal, the results confirmed the existence of i) Nb-rich native precipitates and irradiation-induced platelets (IIPs)/nanoclusters in both metal and oxide, and ii) solute segregation to the metal and oxide grain boundaries. One of the most important findings is that the Nb/Zr ratio in the metal solid solution at high burnup is only about 0.2 at.%. All three alloying elements (Sn, Fe, Nb) have segregated to oxide grain boundaries at high burnup. The effects of these microstructural and microchemistry changes in SRA ZIRLO™ on its in-reactor corrosion mechanism are discussed.
AB - A nanoscale characterization study was carried out on SRA ZIRLO™ at various cycles, aiming to highlight the effect of irradiation-induced alloying element (Sn, Nb, Fe) redistribution on the in-reactor corrosion kinetics. Using a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and atom probe tomography (APT) in both oxide and metal, the results confirmed the existence of i) Nb-rich native precipitates and irradiation-induced platelets (IIPs)/nanoclusters in both metal and oxide, and ii) solute segregation to the metal and oxide grain boundaries. One of the most important findings is that the Nb/Zr ratio in the metal solid solution at high burnup is only about 0.2 at.%. All three alloying elements (Sn, Fe, Nb) have segregated to oxide grain boundaries at high burnup. The effects of these microstructural and microchemistry changes in SRA ZIRLO™ on its in-reactor corrosion mechanism are discussed.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85141473185
U2 - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.154139
DO - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.154139
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85141473185
SN - 0022-3115
VL - 573
JO - Journal of Nuclear Materials
JF - Journal of Nuclear Materials
M1 - 154139
ER -