Grain size effect on the radiation damage tolerance of cubic zirconia against simultaneous low and high energy heavy ions: Nano triumphs bulk

Abstract

Irradiation induced damage in materials is highly detrimental and is a critical issue in several vital science and technology fields, e.g., the nuclear and space industries. While the effect of dimensionality (nano/bulk) of materials on its radiation damage tolerance has been receiving tremendous interest, studies have only concentrated on low energy (nuclear energy loss (Sn) dominant) and high energy (electronic energy loss (Se) dominant) irradiations independently (wherein, interestingly, the effect is opposite). In-fact, research on radiation damage in general has almost entirely focused only on independent irradiations with low and/or high energy particles till date, and investigations under simultaneous impingement of energetic particles (which also correspond to the actual irradiation conditions during real-world applications) are very scarce. The present work elucidates, taking cubic zirconia as a model system, the effect of grain size (26 nm vs 80 nm) on the radiation tolerance against simultaneous irradiation with low energy (900 keV I) and high energy (27 meV Fe) particles/ions; and, in particular, introduces the enhancement in the radiation damage tolerance upon downsizing from bulk to nano dimension. This result is interpreted within the framework of the thermal-spike model after considering (1) the fact that there is essentially no spatial and time overlap between the damage events of the two ‘simultaneous’ irradiations, and (2) the influence of grain size on radiation damage against individual Sn and Se. The present work besides providing the first fundamental insights into how the grain size/grain boundary density inherently mediates the radiation response of a material to simultaneous Sn and Se deposition, also (1) paves the way for potential application of nano-crystalline materials in the nuclear industry (where simultaneous irradiations with low and high energy particles correspond to the actual irradiation conditions), and (2) lays the groundwork for understanding the material behaviour under other simultaneous (viz. Sn and Sn, Se and Se) irradiations.

Insights into the Effect of Particle Size on the Low Energy Radiation Response of Ceria

“…It may be noted that lack of irradiation-induced crystallite growth (under low energy irradiations) in porous nanocrystalline samples has been reported earlier too . A similar phenomenon has also been observed for porous nanocrystalline YSZ in our recent study …”

Effect of 4He2+ ion irradiation on the optical, electrical, morphological, and structural properties of ZnO thin films

“…We can also notice that the sample deposited at the lower temperature shows slight changes in particle size after irradiation. This effect has been observed by Kalita et al [42]. They explained that tiny particles are more tolerant to ionic irradiation because their large number of grain boundaries act as sinks for the defects induced during irradiation.…”

The Key Role of Tin (Sn) in Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Ti2SnC (M2AX) Thin Nanocrystalline Films and Powdered Polycrystalline Samples

“…Surprisingly, the particle size distribution of the irradiated Ti 2 SnC_Ar + NCTF was found to follow the same order as before irradiation (see Figure S6 ), probably due to variation of the phase composition in Ti 2 SnC_Ar + TNCF. This result suggested that non-only thin nanocrystalline films with an average size below 20 nm could be considered as effective materials with enhanced radiation damage tolerance, but powdered polycrystalline Ti 2 SnC could be considered as a promising resistant material when irradiated with Ar + ion beam, the fluence of which does not go over 10 15 cm −2 [ 65 , 66 ].…”