This study focuses on the effects of gallium ion implantation into zircaloy cladding material to investigate the effects that gallium may have in a reactor. High fluence ion implantation of Ga ions was conducted on heated Zircaloy-4 in the range of 10{sup 16}--10{sup 18} Ga ions/cm2. Surface effects were studied using SEM and electron microprobe analysis. The depth profile of Ga in the Zircaloy was characterized with Rutherford backscattering and SIMS techniques. Results indicate that the Zirc-4 is little affected up to a fluence of 10{sup 17} Ga ions/cm{sup 2}. After implantation of 10{sup 18} Ga ions/cm{sup 2}, sub-grain features on the order of 2 {micro}m were observed which may be due to intermetallic compound formation between Ga and Zr. For the highest fluence implant, Ga content in the Zirc-4 reached a saturation value of between 30 and 40 atomic %; significant enhanced diffusion was observed but gallium was not seen to concentrate at grain boundaries.
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