Handbook of SiC properties for fuel performance modeling

Proposed fusion and advanced (Generation IV) fission energy systems require high-performance materials capable of satisfactory operation up to neutron damage levels approaching 200 atomic displacements per atom with large amounts of transmutant hydrogen and helium isotopes. After a brief overview of fusion reactor concepts and radiation effects phenomena in structural and functional (nonstructural) materials, three fundamental options for designing radiation resistance are outlined: Utilize matrix phases with inherent radiation tolerance, select materials in which vacancies are immobile at the design operating temperatures, or engineer materials with high sink densities for point defect recombination. Environmental and safety considerations impose several additional restrictions on potential materials systems, but reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels (including thermomechanically treated and oxide dispersion–strengthened options) and silicon carbide ceramic composites emerge as robust structural...

Designing Radiation Resistance in Materials for Fusion Energy

http://matrix.seas.ucla.edu/papers/2000/s-NG-operating.pdf

Operating temperature windows for fusion reactor structural materials

Because of its superior properties silicon carbide is one of the most promising materials for power electronics, hard- and biomaterials. In the solid phase, the electronic and optical properties are controlled by the stacking of double layers of Si and C atoms. In thin films, a change in the stacking order often requires stress, which can be achieved naturally in systems with nanometre length scale. For this reason, nanotubes, nanowires and clusters can be used as building blocks for the synthesis of novel materials. Furthermore, playing at the nanometre length scale enables the nature of the SiC bonding to be modified, which is of prime importance for atomic engineering of nanostructures. In this review, emphasis is placed on the theoretical principles associated with SiC cage-like clusters and experimental work resulting from them.

Playing with carbon and silicon at the nanoscale.

Radiation tolerance of Mn+1AXn phases, Ti3AlC2 and Ti3SiC2

This paper presents results on the microstructure and physical properties of SiC amorphized by both ion and neutron irradiation. Specifically, 0.56 MeV Si ions have been implanted in single crystal 6H–SiC from ambient through >200°C and the critical threshold for amorphization was measured as a function of the irradiation temperature. From a high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) study of the crystalline to amorphous transition region in these materials, elongated pockets of amorphous material oriented parallel to the free surface are observed. Single crystal 6H–SiC and hot pressed and sintered 6H and 3C SiC were neutron irradiated at approximately 70°C to a dose of ∼2.56 dpa causing complete amorphization. Property changes resulting from the crystal to amorphous transition in SiC include a density decrease of 10.8%, a hardness decrease from 38.7 to 21.0 GPa, and a decrease in elastic modulus from 528 to 292 GPa. Recrystallization of the amorphized, single crystal 6H–SiC appears to occur in two stages. In the temperature range of ∼800–1000°C, crystallites nucleate and slowly grow. In the temperature range of 1125–1150°C spontaneous nucleation and rapid growth of crystallites occur. It is further noted that amorphized 6H (alpha) SiC recrystallizes to highly faulted fcc (beta) SiC.

M.C Osborne

Papers

Amorphization of SiC under ion and neutron irradiation