Radiation effects on materials.

[theCandyman]

Can anyone point me toward a good resource that relates the effects of radiation on materials? I had asked my material science professor about it, but it seems we do not cover it in this introductory class. This class is the only material science class I have to take, and I want to learn more.

 

[Grogs]

I'm fairly certain nuclear engineers will study this as it's going to be a critical aspect of reactor design. If you post this question over in the Nuke Engineering forum, I suspect Morbius or Astronuc could at least point you towards a reference on the subject. Unfortunately, the only courses I've taken so far deal with the effects on people, so none of my texts really get into the subject.

 

[PerennialII]

Yeah, there is lots of material available about it, and a very active field of research overall. First off I'd recommend you picking up an advanced materials class book, most of them have chapters concerning radiation effects, even the likes of Herzberg have relatively tolerable concise presentations (however general books have seen about this treat the topic briefly and a good up to date presentation is a tough find - I've gotten in this by reading articles over the years). The web is filled with all sorts of stuff about this topic, but I think it's quite a mess -- perhaps Astro & Morbius can clear it out better than I. Below some recent presentations about the material side of things, the easiest way of getting the very latest information is probably to march into your nearest applicable library and picking up one of the recent ASTM STPs treating the topic.

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/courses/classes/NE39/Wirth-FusionMaterials_lecture2.pdf
http://safelife.jrc.nl/safelife/presentations/6_Debarberis_L.pdf
http://safelife.jrc.nl/safelife/presentations/2_Brumovsky_M.pdf
http://safelife.jrc.nl/safelife/presentations/11_Duysen_van_JC.pdf
http://safelife.jrc.nl/safelife/presentations/12_Gerard_R.pdf
http://www.eps.manchester.ac.uk/research/energytheenvironmentandsustainability/thefile,20168,en.pdf
http://www.normas.com/ASTM/BOOKS/STP1325.html
http://safelife.jrc.nl/safelife/presentations/7_Erak_D.pdf

 

[Astronuc]

Candyman, I can point you to some good references on the effects of radiation of materials. I have a list of texts, and if fact I will be reviewing a new book on the effects of radiation on materials which hopefully will be published by ANS next year.

In what areas are you interested?

Most of my work involves modeling the effects of radiation on thermophysical and mechanical properties of nuclear fuel and core structural materials.

 

[theCandyman]

I do not know, is there a certain topic I should begin with? If not, I think I would like to study the effects on mechanical properties, then some of the class subjects I am learning right now may be helpful to my understanding.

 

[Astronuc]

In order to understand the effect of radiation on materials, one needs a good understanding of the physical and mechanical properties and their dependence on microstructure, i.e. lattice structure or morphology, and the relationship between lattice defects, i.e. dislocations, and strength, ductility, and creep behavior.

Then one needs to know how these properties and their relationship are affected by temperature - both in the fabrication process and in service.

Then one needs to know how the different types of radiation affect the materials. Gamma, beta, alpha, and ions all have different behaviors based on the energy and mass, which affect ionization ability and atomic collisions.

All this applies to structural materials, and to that add corrosion by water, and other affects by liquid metals or gases.

If one considers nuclear fuel ceramics like UO₂, Pu₂, MOX or (U,Pu)O₂, (U,Pu)C, (U,Pu)N, and more exotics like cermets, etc, then it gets more complicated due to fission products, particularly with volatiles like I, Cs and noble gases likek Xe, Kr.

I will put together a bibliography of what's out there.

 

[Astronuc]

As promised, here is a list of books and journals, which contain information on the effects of radiation on materials. It is not comprehensive, but these most of the books published since 1970. An up-to-date book will hopefully be published by ANS next year.

-------------------------

Thermodynamics of Nuclear Materials¸ IAEA Vienna (1974)
D. R. Olander, Fundamental Aspects of Nuclear Reactor Fuel Elements: National Technical Information Services, P26711-P1 (1976)
J. Gittus, Irradiation Effects in Crystalline Solids, Applied Science (1978)
J. T. A. Roberts, Structural Materials in Nuclear Power Systems, Plenum Press (1981)
Benjamin. Ma, Nuclear Reactor Materials, Van Nostrand (1983)
J. N. Anno, Notes on radiation effects on materials: Hemisphere Pub. Corp, 1984.
H-J. Matzke, Science of Advanced LMFBR Fuels: North-Holland, 1986.
B. T. Frost, Nuclear Fuel Elements: design, fabrication and performance, Pergamon (1987)
C. Gupta, Materials in Nuclear Energy Applications, CRC Press (1989)
B. R. T. Frost, Nuclear Materials, vol. I and II: VCH, 1992, Materials Science and Technology: a Comprehensive Treatment.
A. M. Parshin, Structure, strength, and radiation damage of corrosion-resistant steels: American Nuclear Society, 1996.
N. N. Alekseenko, A. Amaev, I. Goryin, and V. A. Nikolaev, Radiation damage of nuclear power plant pressure vessel steels: American Nuclear Society, 1997.
V. Kritsky, Water Chemistry and Corrosion of Nuclear Power Plant Structural Materials, American Nuclear Society (1999)
H. Bailly, Ed, The Nuclear Fuel of Pressurized Water Reactors, Lavoisier Publishing (1999)

Books by Olander, Ma and Robert books are classics, but dated. H_J Matzke's book is probably very good, but I am not familiar with it. Olander is more appropriate for fast reactor (LMFBR) fuels and structural materials, and obviously so it Matzke's book. Matzke is well published in Journal of Nuclear Materials.


ASTM STP's - International Symposium: Zirconium in the Nuclear Industry. Available from ASTM, but expensive.

TMS/NACE/ANS - International Symposium on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems - Water Reactors. Available from TMS.

Journal of Nuclear Materials - Library or online - may be free through library (Elsevier-ScienceDirect)
Nuclear Engineerning and Design- Library or online - may be free through library (Elsevier-ScienceDirect)

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology - free online - http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/aesj/jnst/