Structural integrity and damage of ZrB2 ceramics after 4 MeV Au ions irradiation

Ultra-high temperature ceramics have been considered as good candidates for plasma facing materials due to their combination of high melting point, high strength and hardness, high thermal conductivity as well as good chemical inertness. In this study, zirconium diboride has been chosen to investigate its irradiation damage behavior. Irradiated by 4 MeV Au2+ with a total fluence of 2.5 x 10(16) cm(-2), zirconium diboride ceramic shows substantial resilience to irradiation-induced damage with its structural integrity well maintained but mild damage at lattice level. Grazing incident X-ray diffraction evidences no change of the hexagonal structure in the irradiated region but its lattice parameter a increased and c decreased, giving a volume shrinkage of similar to 0.46%. Density functional theory calculation shows that such lattice shrinkage corresponds to a non-stoichiometric compound as ZrB1.97. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope revealed an increase of valence electrons in zirconium, suggesting boron vacancies were indeed developed by the irradiation. Along the irradiation depth, long dislocations were observed inside top layer with a depth of similar to 750 nm where the implanted Au ions reached the peak concentration. Underneath the top layer, a high density of Frank dislocations is formed by the cascade collision down to a depth of 1150 nm. All the features show the potential of ZrB2 to be used as structural material in nuclear system. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Automated summary

Under irradiation by 4 MeV Au2+ ions, zirconium diboride ceramic exhibits substantial resilience to damage while maintaining structural integrity. The lattice shrinkage and formation of dislocations suggest potential for ZrB2 as a structural material in nuclear systems.