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Understanding the stability of irradiation-induced voids in materials is important for engineering material's swelling behavior under irradiation. In-situ TEM offers a spatial and temporal resolution that is suitable for investigating the evolution of voids under irradiation. However, the in-situ videos have often been too large to be analyzed manually, leaving the valuable data underutilized. We developed a deep learning-based semantic segmentation model to consistently study the growth and shrinkage of voids in nickel under 1 MeV krypton ion irradiation at various temperatures from 525 °C to 650 °C. With a foil thickness near 100 nm and ion flux of 6.3 × 1011 ions⋅ cm−2⋅s−1, the pre-existing voids, which were created beforehand by irradiation at 600 °C to 0.5 dpa, shrank at low temperatures and grew at high temperatures under irradiation, where the transition occurred at 575 °C (∼0.5 T M). The observed stability transition provided new insight for the shrinkage mechanism of voids under irradiation. In addition, an annealing experiment on nickel, previously irradiated at 600 °C to 3 dpa, was performed sequentially at 650 °C to 720 °C to reveal the shrinkage rate of void as a function of temperature and void size. The advantage of combining computer vision and in-situ TEM to obtain comprehensive void evolution was demonstrated. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helium bubble formation was examined by scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) in Fe-9/10Cr binary alloys and two dispersion strengthened nanostructured alloys (CNA3 and 14YWT containing 5–10 nm diameter carbide and oxide particles, respectively) after ex-situ and in-situ He implantation to ~10,000 appm at 500 to 900 °C. The combination of high-resolution STEM images and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) revealed that the Y-Ti-O nanoparticles in 14YWT were uniformly distributed and exhibited a one-to-one relationship for bubble attachment to the nanoclusters. In the in-situ experiment at 900 °C, grain boundary cracking was severe in the Fe-10Cr model alloy, but not in the nanostructured alloys. From 500 to 900 °C, the bubble size generally increased with increasing irradiation temperature, while the bubble density decreased with increasing temperature. At the same temperatures, the bubble size in the implanted materials was in the order of Fe-9/10Cr > CNA3 > 14YWT, while the bubble density showed the opposite order. The observed bubble number densities for the nanostructured alloys are comparable to the nanoparticle density, suggesting that the nanoparticles in both alloys were effective in trapping He. Our results indicate that very high He concentrations can be managed in nanostructured alloys by sequestering the helium into smaller bubbles (which leads to a lower volume swelling value) and to shield He from the grain boundaries. This can be attributed to the much higher sink strength associated with the nanoclusters or the He trapping ability between different types of nanoclusters. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermal conductivity of UO 2 fuel needs to be high enough to dissipate the heat generated from the fission reaction. Since grain size affects thermal conductivity and grain size can evolve with irradiation, it is critical to understand in-reactor UO 2 grain growth. Most studies of grain growth in UO 2 are based on thermally driven processes at elevated temperatures. However, studies have shown that grain growth can occur even at cryogenic temperatures by ballistic processes. Such irradiation-induced grain growth in UO 2 is yet to be studied. Advanced in-situ Kr ion irradiation and transmission electron microscopy were systematically performed on nanocrystalline UO 2 thin films at temperatures ranging from 50 K to 1073 K; grain growth was observed at all temperatures. A combination of manual and machine learning techniques was used to measure and plot grain size evolution against irradiation fluence at various irradiation temperatures. The machine learning method has significantly improved the analysis efficiency and reduced human labors. The grain diameter data were fitted using classical grain growth and thermal spike models to describe grain growth kinetics with and without irradiation effect. Grain growth during low temperature irradiation (≤ 475 K) can be well described by the thermal spike model. Above 475 K, there were additional thermally assisted processes that further accelerate the grain growth. At the highest irradiation temperature about 1075 K, both irradiation-induced dislocation loops and cavities/bubbles were observed to form in the UO 2. The effects of irradiation-induced defects on grain growth kinetics are discussed. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]