Structural effects in UO2 thin films irradiated with fission-energy Xe ions

Popel, A. J. and Lebedev, V.A. and Martin, P.G. and Shiryaev, A.A. and Lampronti, G. I. and Springell, R. and Kalmykov, S.N. and Scott, T.B. and Monnet, I. and Grygiel, C. and Farnan, I. (2016) Structural effects in UO2 thin films irradiated with fission-energy Xe ions. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 482. pp. 210-217. ISSN 0022-3115 DOI 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2016.10.024

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Abstract

Uranium dioxide thin films have been successfully grown on LSAT (Al10La3O51Sr14Ta7) substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering. Irradiation by 92 MeV 129Xe23+ ions to simulate fission damage that occurs within nuclear fuels caused microstructural and crystallographic changes. Initially flat and continuous thin films were produced by magnetron sputtering with a root mean square roughness of 0.35 nm determined by AFM. After irradiation, this roughness increased to 60–70 nm, with the films developing discrete microstructural features: small grains (∼3 μm), along with larger circular (up to 40 μm) and linear formations with non-uniform composition according to the SEM, AFM and EDX results. The irradiation caused significant restructuring of the UO2 films that was manifested in significant film-substrate mixing, observed through EDX analysis. Diffusion of Al from the substrate into the film in unirradiated samples was also observed.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	2016AREP; IA71
Subjects:	03 - Mineral Sciences
Divisions:	03 - Mineral Sciences 07 - Gold Open Access
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Nuclear Materials
Volume:	482
Page Range:	pp. 210-217
Identification Number:	10.1016/j.jnucmat.2016.10.024
Depositing User:	Sarah Humbert
Date Deposited:	11 Apr 2017 20:55
Last Modified:	11 Apr 2017 20:55
URI:	http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/id/eprint/3922

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