Characterization of Au Irradiated Glassy Polymeric Carbon at 2,000°C for Nuclear Applications: Characterization of GPC after Ion Irradiation

Abstract

The TRISO fuel has been used in some of the Generation IV nuclear reactor designs [1]. It consists of a fuel kernel of UO x coated with several layers of materials with different functions. Pyrolytic carbon (PyC) is one of the materials in the layers. In this study we investigate the possibility of using Glassy Polymeric Carbon (GPC) as an alternative to PyC. In this work, we are comparing the changes in physical and microstructure properties of GPC after exposure to irradiation fluence of 5 MeV Au equivalent to a 1 displacement per atom (dpa) for GPC prepared at 2,000°C. The GPC material is manufactured and tested at the Center for Irradiation Materials (CIM) at Alabama A&M University using Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and stopping range of ions in matter (SRIM) software. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.