Irradiation effects nuclear materials

Rivaton, A., Lalande, D., Gardette, J., Influence of the structure on the y-irradiation of polypropylene and on the post-irradiation effects. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 2004, 222, 187-200. 

Begg, B. D., Hess, N. J., Weber, W. J., Devanathan, R., Icenhower, J. P Thevuthasan, S. McGrail, B. P. 2001. Heavy-ion irradiation effects on structures and acid dissolution of pyrochlores. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 288, 208-216. 

Davies, J. H. Ewart, F. T. "The Chemical Effects of Composition Changes in Irradiated Oxide Fuel Materials, Jour, of Nuclear Materials 1971,41,143-155. 

Extensive production of He occurs in materials as a result of nuclear transmutation due to fusion neutrons. He is an insoluble element in almost all the solid materials. It stabilizes vacancy type clusters, interacts with the radiation defects and impurities, and consequently may alter various irradiation effects on physical or mechanical properties. Therefore, its effect must be taken seriously. 

Belcher W, Priest R and Boothby R (2002), In-service irradiation effects in PWR RPV SA508 Class 3 forging and weld metal , Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems-Water Reactors, NACE International, Houston, TX, USA. 

Rather soon after the nuclear magnetic reasonance (NMR) method was applied successfully to solid state physics, NMR was applied to the study of physical properties of polymers. To the best of our knowledge, a short paper by Wilson and Pake published in 1952 on the two-component structure of the proton NMR spectrum of polyethylene was the first paper in the field of NMR application to polymer science After that, many papers of NMR studies in polymer physics were published and many novel informations concerning molecular motions and structures of polymeric materials were presented. Recent advances in hardware of instrumentation of NMR measurement opened its application even to the medical and tomographic field Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR or ESR), on the other hand, was applied to polymer science in the middle of the 1950s in the studies of polymerization and irradiation effects and its application to molecular motion study was established in the first half of the 1960s. 

Yano, Y., et al, 2011. Effects of neutron irradiation on tensile properties of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steel claddings. Journal of Nuclear Materials 419, 305—309. 

Future projects are considering the use of ceramic composites where radiation doses, environmental challenges, or temperatures (up to or beyond 1000°C) will exceed the capabilities of the metallic materials (Corwin et al., 2008). However, widespread property data, standardization of the characterization methods and the development of design codes of ceramic composites are required for in-core structural components. The baseline thermal and mechanical properties of some nuclear-grade C/C composites were measured. The oxidation behaviors of composites in air and He with controlled minor impurities and irradiation effects using Si ions were also evaluated (Kim et al., 2009b Hong et al., 2012 Corwin et al., 2008 Carre et al., 2010). 

Irradiation effects in Generation IV nuclear reactor materials... 

Irradiation effects and microstructural changes in Generation IV reactor materials have been discussed in this chapter. The role of irradiation-induced point, hne, and volume defects in performance of steels has been discussed and radiation-induced segregation and precipitation mechanisms have been dehneated. New characterization techniques recently deployed in the nuclear materials field have been introduced and advantages and limitations of each technique have been provided. 

In 1959, an American Society for Testing and Materials task group made recommendations on test procedures for evaluating radiation effects on materials, which led to recommended practices for surveillance tests on structural materials in nuclear reactors. As part of their safety analysis review, the AEG ensured that each plant conducted a reactor vessel irradiation surveillance program per American Society for Testing and Materials standards to evaluate the shift in RTnot over the plant life, especially in the beltline region opposite the core midplane where the reactor vessel sees the largest neutron flux. 

There is considerable interest in irradiation effects in intermetallic compounds from both the applied and fundamental aspects. Initially, this interest was associated mainly with nuclear reactor programs but it now extends to the fields of ion-beam modification of metals, behavior of amorphous materials, ion-beam processing of electronic materials, and ion-beam simulations of various kinds. 

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