Open AccessHigh Temperature Effect and Radiation Damage in Yb4Hf3O12 Delta Phase Material
Author(s) -
Mohammed Ado,
Qingyu Wang,
Sherif A. Ibrahim,
Asmat Ullah
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/529/1/012014
Subject(s) - materials science , crystallite , fluorite , irradiation , phase (matter) , oxide , analytical chemistry (journal) , radiation damage , ceramic , composite material , chemistry , metallurgy , nuclear physics , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography
The development of next generation nuclear energy systems such as Gen-IV and fusion reactors need materials that resist radiation damage effects. Therefore, advanced nuclear reactors require the development of new materials that will satisfy their design specifications. A considerable amount of research has been performed on some crystalline oxides with fluorite related structures (CaF 2 ) as potential candidates for inert matrix in nuclear fuel and waste forms. Delta phase, another fluorite-related phase structure is a compound produced from ceramic oxide compositions usually in the form of A 4 B 3 O 12 or A 6 B 1 O 12 describe as M 7 O 12 (where M is a metal representing AB and O is oxygen). In this work, we developed a new Yb 4 Hf 3 O 12 delta phase material using solid-state sintering. The oxide was characterized with an ordered rhombohedral structure called delta phase material The high-temperature XRD result showed that the phase and structure of the composition remain the same up to the high temperature of 1300°C indicating a non-phase transition, but the lattice parameters values revealed a linear thermal expansion in the volume as the temperature increases. The polycrystalline sample was irradiated with 6keV He + at room temperature to fluences of 7.6 x 10 16 ions/cm 2 (corresponding to 6.2dpa) to study the radiation tolerance in the compound. The irradiated sample was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The result showed no formation of bubble gas but an airy ring was observed in the diffraction pattern indicating that the structure was damaged.