A SUMMARY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SOME RESEARCH ON RADIATION DAMAGE IN CERAMIC MATERIALS PERFORMED AT THE ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY

摘要

Apparently it was E. P. Wigner who first suggested that the energetic neutrons present in a neutron reactor might convey part of their energy to the atoms of solids present therein with a consequent permanent alteration of their properties. The effect was sought in the pile construction materials then under consideration and was found exhibited in marked degree by graph He. 2, 3 for the purposes of this report an effect similar to that found la graphite will be termed the Wigner disease.nAfter 1946 under the impetus of a search for new pile materials and a desire to learn more about the effect, a number of investigations were made. Effects were found in beryllium oxide, 5, 6 but these were an order of magnitude smaller than the effects found previously in graphite. Metals and alloys' were investigated;and it was found that, in general, effects in metals were small, in some alloys larger, but also about a magnitude smaller than in graphite.