NPTEL Syllabus Radiation damage and Radiation effects on Structural Materials - Video course COURSE OUTLINE Structural materials in a nuclear reactor are subjected to severe conditions of temperature and stresses including impact of high energy particles such as neutrons, a particles etc. The microstructure and properties of structural materials are significantly affected due to the irradiation damage. The life of components is reduced due to the unique effects of high energy particles such as hardening, void swelling, growth and embrittlement. This course covers basic mathematical treatment of collisions and displacement process. Theoretical modeling of the evolution of point defect concentration with time is explained using chemical reaction rate theory. Microstructural changes in different classes of structural materials as a function of irradiation fluence are explained. The changes in mechanical properties of different types of materials due to irradiation damage are explained. Modeling and simulation of radiation damage using molecular dynamics is also covered. The course will provide a foundation for engineers to understand and design materials that will be more resistant to radiation damage. COURSE DETAIL L. No. Syllabus covered Faculty 1 Introduction to nuclear power plant, types of reactors, conditions inside nuclear reactor, requirement from structural materials, typical materials used in a nuclear reactor Dr. Srinivasa Rao Bakshi NPTEL http://nptel.ac.in Metallurgy and Material Science Pre-requisites: This would need a basic knowledge of materials science and physics. Coordinators: Dr.Narasimhan Swaminathan Department of Mechanical EngineeringIIT Madras Dr.Srinivasa Rao Bakshi Metallurgical and Materials EngineeringIIT Madras 2 Mathematical treatment of binary collision, relative KE and potential functions, types of potential functions 3 Concept of cross section, types of cross section and relation between them, isotropic collision, mean free
path, range, stopping power, current and flux 4 Relation between potential function and differential energy transfer cross section 5 Electronic stopping power and its dependence on energy of particle 6 Displacement threshold, Kinchin- Pease model for no. of displaced atoms 7 Effect of electronic energy loss on K- P model 8 Focusing and channeling, criteria for focusing, probability of focusing, dynamic crowdions, effect of focusing and channeling on no. of displaced atoms 9 Displacement damage due to fast neutron flux, displacements per atom (dpa) and rate of dpa, factors affecting dpa, displacement spike and depleted zones 10 Summary of displacement damage 11 Simulation of radiation damage with ion beam irradiation, ion sources, advantages and limitation of ion beam irradiation 12 Damage cause by ion beams as a function of depth, factors affecting damage by different ions 13 Types of defects created by irradiation I (point defects, line defects, dislocation loops, stacking faults and twins, stacking fault tetrahedral and voids) 14 Types of defects created by
irradiation II (point defects, line defects, dislocation loops, stacking faults and twins, stacking fault tetrahedral and voids) 15 Characterization techniques for radiation defects, TEM, APT, Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy 16 Radiation hardening, source and friction hardening, saturation of radiation hardening 17 Microstructural features in irradiated austenitic stainless steel, effect of temperature and fluence, un-faulting of frank loops, mechanical properties of irradiated austenitic stainless steel 18 Helium embrittlement, sources of helium in structural material, stress induced growth of helium bubbles, effect of irradiation temperature 19 Effect of irradiation on ferritic steels, radiation anneal hardening, effect of irradiation on DBTT 20 Void swelling in austenitic stainless steels, effect of stacking fault energy and surface energy, void size distribution, effect of temperature 21 Factors affecting void swelling, effect of impurities, precipitates, effect of cold work 22 Irradiation creep, mechanisms of irradiation creep, SIPN and SIPA, oxide dispersion strengthened steels 23 Irradiation growth, factors affecting irradiation growth, Significance of texture in Zirconium alloys 24 Radiation enhanced diffusion
25 Radiation induced segregation (RIS), problems due to RIS, factors determining RIS, RIS in ferritic and austenitic steels 26 Radiation induced precipitation, radiation modified phases, radiation enhanced/retarded phases 27 Irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC), radiolysis of water, mechanisms of IASCC, IASCC in austenitic and ferritic steels 28 New radiation resistant materials for fusion reactors 29 Radiation damage in fusion reactors, materials for fusion reactor 30 Testing irradiated nuclear materials, handling of active materials, issues and challenges 31 Point defect formation and diffusion: Mechanisms of point defect diffusion and macroscopic description, Jump frequency and Diffusion Coefficient Dr. Narasimhan Swaminathan 32 Chemical reaction rate theory of evolution of defect concentration, effect of temperature and sink strength of concentration of vacancies and interstitials 33 Grain boundaries classifications and diffusion of point defects in grain boundaries 34 Radiation Induced Amorphization (RIA) of materials: Dose to amorphization (DTA) vs. Temperature curves for materials and related kinetics involved. Effects of grain boundaries on DTA vs. Temperature curves
35 Interactions of kinetics and grain size on RIA: Review of kinetic rate theory and mathematical description of the interactions of the kinetics on the energy based RIA. 36 Discussion on the role of nanograined materials in altering resistance to RIA. A perspective developed based on previous lectures 37 Sink Strengths: Modeling of grain boundaries as sinks, Perfect and Imperfect sinks, Mathematical modeling to find out sink strengths of grain boundaries. 38 Role of stress fields on grain boundary sink strengths: Understanding GB stress fields. Stress-dependent chemical potential, role of GB stress fields on sink strengths 39 Atomistic modeling: MD simulations of Displacement cascades, Choosing simulation box sizes, PKA energies and analysis of point defect and point defect cluster production. 40 Ab-initio calculations on point defect energetics and kinetics of radiation induced processes References: Text Books 1. Fundamental Aspects of Nuclear Reactor Fuel Element by D. Olander. Published by Technical Information Centre, Energy Research and Development Administration. USA 2. Fundamentals of Radiation Materials Science: Metals and Alloys by Gary S. Was. Published by Springer References 1. Defects and Radiation Damage in Metals by M. W. Thompson. Published by Cambridge University Press 2. Comprehensive Nuclear Materials Edited by Rudy J.M. Konings. Published by Elsevier
A joint venture by IISc and IITs, funded by MHRD, Govt of India http://nptel.ac.in