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Thermal conductivity measurements via time-domain thermoreflectance for the characterization of radiation induced damage

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Abstract

The progressive build up of fission products inside different nuclear reactor components can lead to significant damage of the constituent materials. We demonstrate the use of time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR), a nondestructive thermal measurement technique, to study the effects of radiation damage on material properties. We use TDTR to report on the thermal conductivity of optimized ZIRLO, a material used as fuel cladding in nuclear reactors. We find that the thermal conductivity of optimized ZIRLO is 10.7 ± 1.8 W m−1 K−1 at room temperature. Furthermore, we find that the thermal conductivities of copper–niobium nanostructured multilayers do not change with helium ion irradiation doses of 1015 cm−2 and ion energy of 200 keV, demonstrating the potential of heterogeneous multilayer materials for radiation tolerant coatings. Finally, we compare the effect of ion doses and ion beam energies on the measured thermal conductivity of bulk silicon. Our results demonstrate that TDTR can be used to quantify depth dependent damage.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was performed in part at the Center for Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Science (CAMOS) at the University of Virginia. P. E. H. recognizes support from the Naval Research Young Investigator Program (Grant No. N00014-13-4-0528). Authors acknowledge Evans Analytical Group for TEM data. We are appreciative of funding through Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

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  1. Caroline S. Gorham

    Present address: Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22904, USA

    Ramez Cheaito, Caroline S. Gorham & Patrick E. Hopkins

  2. Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Amit Misra

  3. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87185, USA

    Khalid Hattar

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  1. Ramez Cheaito
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  2. Caroline S. Gorham
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  3. Amit Misra
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  4. Khalid Hattar
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  5. Patrick E. Hopkins
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Correspondence to Khalid Hattar or Patrick E. Hopkins.

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This author was an editor of this focus issue during the review and decision stage. For the JMR policy on review and publication of manuscripts authored by editors, please refer to http://www.mrs.org/jmr-editor-manuscripts/.

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Cheaito, R., Gorham, C.S., Misra, A. et al. Thermal conductivity measurements via time-domain thermoreflectance for the characterization of radiation induced damage. Journal of Materials Research 30, 1403–1412 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2015.11

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