Study of the Application Efficiency of Irradiation with Heavy Ions to Increase the Helium Swelling Resistance of BeO Ceramics

Abstract

This paper considers the possibilities of increasing radiation resistance to helium swelling of beryllium oxide ceramics due to preliminary irradiation with heavy ions. Interest in this topic is due to the possibility of using these ceramics as materials for inert matrices of nuclear fuel and structural materials reflectors of high-temperature reactors. The samples studied were irradiated in two stages, namely irradiation with heavy Ar8+, Kr15+, and Xe22+ ions with a fluence of 1012 ion/cm2 and subsequent irradiation with He2+ ions with a fluence of 5x1017 ion/cm2 . The main parameters used to compare and determine radiation modification efficiency were the crystal-structure swelling degree, a decrease in the hardness, and wear resistance of ceramics after irradiation with He2+ ions. During the studies carried out, it was found that preliminary irradiation with heavy Ar8+, Kr15+, and Xe22+ ions leads to a significant increase in radiation swelling resistance, as well as to an increase in crack resistance and wear resistance. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.