Heavy in irradiation of brannerite-type ceramics

摘要

Brannerite, UTi{sub}2O{sub}6, occurs in polyphase Ti-based, crystalline ceramics that are under development for plutonium immobilization. In order to investigate radiation effects caused by α-decay events of Pu, several brannerite compositions were synthesized: UTi{sub}2O{sub}6, ThTi{sub}2O{sub}6, CeTi{sub}2O{sub}6 and a more complex material, which is composed of Ca-containing brannerite and pyrochlore. An 1 MeV Kr{sup}+ irradiation was performed over a temperature range of 25 K to 1020 K with in-situ TEM. The ion irradiation-induced crystalline-to-amorphous transformation was observed in all brannerite samples. At room temperature, the critical amorphization dose, D{sub}c, resulting from Kr{sup}+ ion irradiation increases in the order: D{sub}c (CeTi{sub}2O{sub}6) < D{sub}c (ThTi{sub}2O{sub}6) < D{sub}c (Ca-containing brannerite)