Examination of nuclear materials with two-dimensional nanostructures

在这个项目中，学生将使用基于衍射的方法来研究各种类型的材料中的2D纳米结构，并研究在现实的工业应用中导致它们变形的潜在机制。这项研究的一个起点将是确定用于Muon靶和第四代反应堆的原始石墨参考样品的特征，以及用于核裂变和聚变应用的新型MAX相。结合中子衍射、透射电子显微镜和拉曼光谱的结果，目的是更好地了解这些材料中的衍射图，并建立一种算法来最好地分析它们。在此基础上，这些发现将应用于工业石墨和MAX相，以研究它们在高温、中子和/或质子照射下的材料变化，以深入了解这些材料中缺陷的基本方面，以及它们在工业应用中变形时如何适应应变。该项目的另一个令人兴奋的方面是合成新的MAX相，特别是用于中子学应用。束线IMAT(ISIS，Ral)上的中子照相将是主要的方法，Bragg Edge照相将提供该过程中产生的相的空间分布的实时信息，并进一步利用中子共振来非侵入性地监测温度分布。

In this project, the student will use diffraction-based methods to study the 2D nanostructures in numerous types of materials and investigate the underlying mechanisms responsible for their deformation in realistic industrial applications. A starting point of the study will be the characterisation of reference samples of virgin graphite for use in the muon target and Gen-IV reactors and novel MAX phases for nuclear fission and fusion applications. Combining the results from neutron diffraction, transmission electron microscope and Raman spectroscopy, the aim is to understand the diffraction patterns in these materials better and establish an algorithm to best analyse them. Based on this, the findings will be applied to industrial graphite and MAX phases to study the material changes after they have been exposed to high temperature, neutron and/or proton irradiation to gain insight into the fundamental aspects of the defects in these materials and how they accommodate strains when they are deformed as in industrial applications. Another exciting aspect of this project is to synthesise novel MAX phases in particular for neutronic applications. Neutron radiography on beamline IMAT (ISIS, RAL) will be the main approach and Bragg edge radiography will provide real time information on the spatial distribution of phases produced during the process, with neutron resonances further used to noninvasively monitor the temperature distributions.