Dimensional stability, optical and elastic properties of MgAl2O4 spinel irradiated in FFTF to very high exposures

Effects of Neutron Irradiation on the Mechanical Properties of Magnesium Aluminate Spinel Single Crystals and Polycrystals

“…Among many candidate ceramics, such as Al 2 O 3 , SiC, Si 3 N 4 , and AlN, magnesium aluminate spinel (MgAl 2 O 4 , Mg-Al spinel) shows excellent characteristics, even after highfluence neutron irradiation. Many studies on the neutronirradiation effects of spinel have been performed by Clinard, Hurley, and Hobbs et al, 7,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Kinoshita and co-workers, [17][18][19][20][21] Tucker et al, 22 Garner and co-workers, 23,24 Sickafus and coworkers, 25,26 Ibara et al, 27 and Yano and co-workers, [28][29][30][31][32][33][34] and exceptionally high performance of this ceramic has been established after irradiation up to high neutron fluences. The mechanism of insensitivity of Mg-Al spinel to neutron irradiation has been attributed to the difficulty in clustering point defects or dislocation loops and, consequently, void formation (based on crystal chemical considerations), 9,12,17,19,21 the presence of structural vacancies, 17,18 and the marked propensity of cation disorder.…”

High-dose neutron irradiation of MgAl2O4 spinel: effects of post-irradiation thermal annealing on EPR and optical absorption

“…The details of impurity levels, specimen fabrication and irradiation are given in [3]. The specimen was irradiated in the FFTF/MOTA facility at a nominal temperature of 680 K to a total fluence of 5.3 · 10 26 n/m 2 (E > 0.1 MeV), producing %50 dpa.…”

“…In previous work the effect of irradiation temperature and total dose on stoichiometric spinels has been studied, with emphasis on point defects characteristics, using characterization techniques such as optical absorption, photoluminescence, electron paramagnetic resonance, electrical conductivity and others [14][15][16]. These specimens have also been characterized using neutron diffraction [12], as well as mechanical and elastic properties [3,4] and electron microscopy [9,17].…”

“…MgAl 2 O 4 is a ceramic spinel material with rather high radiation resistance for neutron irradiation, at least from the point of view of maintaining its original mechanical and elastic properties [1][2][3][4][5]. That resistance makes this material suitable for applications in intense radiation environments such as anticipated in fusion reactors.…”

Comparison Between Neutron Yields of Classical and Spherical Tokamaks

“…Флюенс при этом может достигать 2 МВт•год/м 2 без замены катушек. В качестве изо-ляционного материала, применимого в таких условиях, может рассматриваться шпинель (Al 2 O 3 / MgO) [11].…”