Formation of nanosized hills on Ti3SiC2 oxide layer irradiated with swift heavy ions

Abstract

In the framework of the Generation IV International Forum, carbides are sensed for the design of the fuel cladding of the Gas-cooled Fast Reactor. Among the studied carbides, Ti 3 SiC 2 has the advantage of combining the properties of both metals and ceramics. After performing irradiations with 92 MeV Xe ions to 10 19 m -2 , hills were observed by AFM on the surface of Ti 3 SiC 2 . Such topographic modification seems to have never been observed in other materials irradiated in such conditions. A characterization of these hills by both XPS and X-TEM highlighted that these surface modifications do not appear in Ti 3 SiC 2 but in a native amorphous oxide layer on the sample. Moreover, the thickness of this oxide layer grows under irradiation. The comparison between different irradiations permitted to conclude that this surface modification is due to electronic interactions in this amorphous layer, and a threshold in electronic stopping power for hill formation is evidenced.

Irradiation resistance of MAX phases Ti3SiC2 and Ti3AlC2: Characterization and comparison

“…These several-micron-long cracks have also been observed in other cases of low energy ion (2 MeV I ion and 4 MeV Au ion [11,17]) irradiation, but are absent in the cases of swift heavy ion (92 and 95 MeV Xe ion [7,9]) irradiation. This relation between cracks and ion energy indicates that the anisotropic swelling during irradiation was induced by nuclear collisions, not by electronic excitations.…”

First-Principles Study of Vacancies in Ti3SiC2 and Ti3AlC2

“…A large number of experimental studies [11,12,13,14,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31] have investigated the properties of Ti 3 SiC 2 and Ti 3 AlC 2 when subjected to irradiation with heavy ions and neutrons. Nappé et al [11] studied the defect properties of Ti 3 SiC 2 under Au-, Kr-, and Xe-ion irradiation.…”

Irradiation-induced structural transitions in Ti 2 AlC

“…M n + 1 AX n phases (n = 2), especially Ti 3 AlC 2 and Ti 3 SiC 2 , as two typical MAX phases, have been frequently used to investigate the performance under ion irradiation [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Similar to Ti 3 AC 2 (A = Al/Si), Ti 2 AlC phase has an isomorphous hexagonal-closepacked structure whose space group is P6 3 /mmc (No.…”