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

International audienceIrradiation with energetic particles induces elastic displacement damage and electronic excitation in ceramic compounds, and evolve microstructure change. In this article, three types of ceramic compounds, (1) fluorite-type oxides (such as yttria stabilized cubic zirconia (YSZ), urania, and ceria), (2) silicon carbide, and (3) normal spinel structure oxides (such as magnesium aluminate spinel), were selected to provide their defect formation, accumulation, and microstructure evolution. All of these ceramics are of importance for nuclear applications, but have different nature of chemical bonding and structural complexity. This article clearly shows that the dimensional stability (swelling caused by the accumulation of point defects, amorphization, and the formation of voids) and the mechanical property change (nano-indentation hardness and elastic constant) are significantly different among the ceramics due to the difference in the recombination behavior of point defects, stability of defects including exchange at the anti-sites, response to electronic excitation, and so on, through a variety of experimental and computational techniques