Helium Ion Implantation in Zirconium: Bubble Formation & Growth
Abstract
To evaluate the behavior of inert helium gas bubbles in zirconium three variants of the metal were implanted with 140 keV helium ions to a total fluence of 3×10^17 cm^−2 and characterized in cross-section TEM in their as-implanted state as well as during annealing at different temperatures. The three zirconium alloys included high-purity crystal bar material, Zircaloy-4, and a powder-metallurgically extruded material with high carbon and oxygen concentrations.
At a sample depth consistent with a helium concentration of approximately 5 atomic percent, a change in the structure of the zirconium was observed a high density region of small (4nm diameter) bubbles formed at concentrations above 10 atom percent.
Initial bubble formation and growth was observed to occurred at a temperature between 400-450 °C and these initial bubbles had a unique planar geometry prior to migration and coalescence into more three-dimensional bubbles. These planar bubbles appear to be aligned with major axes parallel to the TEM specimen surface and their formation and growth is possibly due to an increase in the thermal vacancy flux within the zirconium.
The observations of bubble response to high temperature annealing suggest that in zirconium, as in other metals, maximum bubble size is weakly dependent on annealing time, whereas the bubble size distribution is strongly dependent on time. Specimens that underwent a prolonged room temperature aging developed a multimodal bubble size distribution within the high density region of small bubbles, concentrated near the highest helium concentration depth.
Citation
Totemeier, Aaron Robert (2015). Helium Ion Implantation in Zirconium: Bubble Formation & Growth. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /156473.