Characterization of Radiation Damage by Transmission Electron Microscopy details the electron microscopy methods used to investigate complex and fine-scale microstructures, such as those produced by fast-particle irradiation of metals or ion implantation of semiconductors. The book focuses on the methods used to characterize small point-defect clus

Annotation Effects of Radiation on Materials: Fourteenth International Symposium was presented at Andover, MA, June 1988. The symposium was sponsored by ASTM Committee E-10 on Nuclear Technology and Applications. The papers from the first three days of the symposium appear in the two volumes of this publication. Volume I encompasses radiation damage- induced microstructures; point defect, solute, and gas atom effects; atomic-level measurement techniques; and applications of theory. Volume II includes mechanical behavior, all papers dealing with pressure-vessel steels, breeder reactor components, dosimetry, and nuclear fuels. The fourth day of the symposium was devoted to the single topic of reduced-activation materials (see TK9204). The two volumes are separately sold at $127 and $128 respectively; each is independently indexed. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Advanced materials development for nuclear systems is currently a time and resource intensive process relying on many iterations of material exposure and destructive testing. There exist few methods for characterizing irradiated material performance in situ, during exposure. Techniques such as in situ TEM or in situ Raman spectroscopy can provide local structural information during irradiation, but no current methods can continuously monitor bulk thermal and mechanical properties. Such a tool would provide the ability to map dose-property relationships at a resolution not previously possible, enhancing mechanistic understanding of irradiation-induced evolution. These methods could also be used to identify the onset of emergent irradiation-induced effects such as the transition from incubation to steady-state void swelling. For this purpose, we have identified transient grating spectroscopy (TGS) as an appropriate technique to obtain these dose-property relationships during irradiation. This method, by optically inducing and monitoring monochromatic surface acoustic waves on materials under investigation, is able to determine the elastic and thermal transport properties of a microns-thick layer at the surface of a sample, the same depth to which ion beams can impose damage. First, we demonstrated that this method is sensitive enough to measure changes in material properties induced by radiation. Afterwards, we designed new optical geometries which enable second-scale time-resolved TGS measurements on dynamically changing materials. In addition, we developed new analytical methods through which multiple material properties, acoustic wave speed and thermal transport properties, may be extracted simultaneously from single-shot measurements. As proof-of-principle experiments, ion irradiation-induced property changes have been measured post-irradiation on pure, single crystal copper. In these copper samples, TGS measurements indicate the presence of volumetric void swelling, which is confirmed with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). These developments together show that TGS is capable of capturing irradiation-induced evolution in real time and motivate the design and commissioning of an in situ experiment for ion beam irradiation and TGS monitoring. To this end, an in situ TGS beamline experiment for concurrent ion beam irradiation and property monitoring has been developed on the 6 MV tandem accelerator at the Ion Beam Laboratory at Sandia National Laboratories. The in situ ion irradiation TGS (I3TGS) facility has the ability to monitor material evolution at high temperatures in real time under ion bombardment. Using high-energy self-ions, we are studying radiation damage effects on the thermomechanical properties of pure metals. In these experiments, irradiation-induced void swelling has been monitored at an orders-of-magnitude finer dose resolution than is possible with traditional methods. This tool has allowed the onset of swelling to be pinpointed in applied dose, a key consideration when developing new materials for use in nuclear systems, on the timescale of days rather than months or years. We are now able to provide the type of rapid, engineering-relevant data necessary to speed the innovation cycle in nuclear materials development. Moving forward, these methods can be used as a screening tool to expedite the design and testing process for advanced nuclear materials.

The complexity of radiation damage effects in materials that are used in various irradiation environments stems from the fundamental particle–solid interactions and the subsequent damage recovery dynamics after the collision cascades, which involves multiple length and time scales. Adding to this complexity are the transmuted impurities that are unavoidable from accompanying nuclear processes. Helium is one such impurity that plays an important and unique role in controlling the microstructure and properties of materials used in fast fission reactors, plasma-facing and structural materials in fusion devices, spallation neutron target designs, actinides, tritium-containing materials, and nuclear waste. Their ultra-low solubility in virtually all solids forces He atoms to self-precipitate into small bubbles that become nucleation sites for further void growth under radiation-induced vacancy supersaturations, resulting in material swelling and high-temperature He embrittlement, as well as surface blistering under low-energy and high-flux He bombardment. This Special Issue, “Radiation Damage in Materials—Helium Effects”, contains review articles and full-length papers on new irradiation material research activities and novel material ideas using experimental and/or modeling approaches. These studies elucidate the interactions of helium with various extreme environments and tailored nanostructures, as well as their impact on microstructural evolution and material properties.

The study of radiation damage in solids generally has been stimulated by the technological demands of nuclear energy and space research. Professor Thompson's 1969 book discusses the basic atomic mechanisms which give rise to the main effects induced by radiation in metals, since it is in their relatively simple structures that the fundamental processes can be most easily identified. The first part of the book describes the nature of lattice defects in metal crystals. The presentation leads naturally into the discussion of radiation damage in the second part and recognises the important contribution that the study of irradiated metals has made to our general knowledge of defects. The wide coverage of this book includes developments in our understanding of collision cascades, of the clustering of point defects and the behaviour of impurities induced by irradiation.

``Physics of Radiation Effects in Crystals'' is presented in two parts. The first part covers the general background and theory of radiation effects in crystals, including the theory describing the generation of crystal lattice defects by radiation, the kinetic approach to the study of the disposition of these defects and the effects of the diffusion of these defects on alloy compositions and phases. Specific problems of current interest are treated in the second part and include anisotropic dimensional changes in x-uranium, zirconium and graphite, acceleration of thermal creep in reactor materials, and radiation damage of semiconductors and superconductors.

In this comprehensive yet compact monograph, Michel W. Barsoum, one of the pioneers in the field and the leading figure in MAX phase research, summarizes and explains, from both an experimental and a theoretical viewpoint, all the features that are necessary to understand and apply these new materials. The book covers elastic, electrical, thermal, chemical and mechanical properties in different temperature regimes. By bringing together, in a unifi ed, self-contained manner, all the information on MAX phases hitherto only found scattered in the journal literature, this one-stop resource offers researchers and developers alike an insight into these fascinating materials.

2.6.2 Electrodes for Electrochemistry