Threshold displacement energy in yttria‐stabilized zirconia

Abstract

PACS 61.80. Fe, 61.82.Ms, 76.30.Mi We have studied the color center production in yttria-stabilized zirconia single crystals (i.e. ZrO 2 : Y with 9.5 mol% Y 2 O 3 ) with the (100) orientation, by electron irradiations at energies ranging between 1.0 and 2.5 MeV. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements show that three paramagnetic centers are stable at room-temperature: i) an F + -type center (singly ionized oxygen vacancy), ii) the so-called T-center (Zr 3+ in a trigonal oxygen environment), and iii) a hole center. The growth curves of F + -type centers at variable electron energy cannot be rescaled versus the absorbed dose. These data confirm that F + -type center production is primarily governed by elastic collision processes with a threshold electron energy about 1.0 MeV. This can be correlated to a threshold displacement energy either about 120 eV for the O-atoms in the collision cascades, or about 80 eV for the Zr-(or Y-) atoms. In contrast, the growth curves of T-centers at variable electron energy are rescaled versus the absorbed dose.

Radiation-Induced Effects on Material Properties of Ceramics: Mechanical and Dimensional Properties

“…On the other hand, a large Ed value (> 120 eV) was deduced for oxygen ions in electron-irradiated YSZ from EPR data on F + centers (paramagnetic oxygen vacancies), which is in good agreement with the MD simulations. 53 The larger value of the Ed for oxygen ions in YSZ is not cleared at the present moment. An explanation for this discrepancy is due to the promoted recombination of oxygen interstitials with structural oxygen vacancies induced by the addition of Y 3+ dopants.…”

“…12,30,48 A number of experimental and theoretical evaluations of Ed were reported for fluorite-type oxides, such as by optical measurements, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), EPR, empirical MD and ab initio MD simulations. 41,43,[49][50][51][52][53][54][55] Table 1 summarizes the reported Ed values of several fluorite-type oxides for cations and oxygen ions. Although the values of Ed depend on materials, crystallographic orientations and Fig.…”

“…This influence can be obvious if the mass of radiation particle is in the light case, such as for electrons. 53,58 Elastic displacement cross sections with electron irradiation can be calculated by using Oen's chart 59 based on McKinley-Feshbach formula, 60 or a computer code (SMOTT/POLY) on the basis of Mott cross sections. 61 The SMOTT/POLY code is devised to include the cascade contributions for polyatomic species.…”

Optical spectroscopy study of modifications induced in cerium dioxide by electron and ion irradiations

“…The electron energy loss across the films (∼1 keV) is negligible. Therefore, differences between electron irradiations are mainly due to the displacement cross sections (σd) for cerium and oxygen that were computed for the different electron energies with the SMOTT/POLY code [9,29].…”

Development of Self-Healing Zirconium-Silicide Coatings for Improved Performance Zirconium-Alloy Fuel Cladding

“…Threshold displacement energies for Zr [81], Si [82], and O [83] were assumed to be 40 eV, 35 eV, and 23 eV, respectively. As shown in Fig.…”