Tuesday publication update! Managing high-level waste (HLW) from nuclear plants is a formidable challenge, where radiation resistance is crucial, but so is the thermal recovery of radiation damage. In this newest publication, an atomic-scale understanding of how materials respond to thermal annealing is shown.
Using in situ heating (#FusionAX) high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) the authors looked at the thermal annealing of natural metamict titanite (CaTiSiO5).
️Heating these materials to 456 °C, monoclinic nanoparticles started forming of only 2-5 nanometers wide! While heating to higher temperatures showed an increase of nanoparticles. This indicated the recovery of an amorphous titanate.
The full recovery was found to take place at 1000 °C. At that temperature the amorphous phase undergoes epitaxial growth, using the titanite nanoparticles as templates.
This study provides unprecedented insights at the unit-cell scale into the thermal stability of radiation damage in titanite-based ceramics. These insights are crucial for developing robust materials for HLW immobilization, ensuring safer and more efficient nuclear waste management.
Want to know more about how Fusion AX can help with your material science research? Find it here!
Want to read the full paper?
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2024.116679
The video shows the epitaxial growth of the titanite nanoparticle at 1000 °C.
#Protochips #FindYourBreakthrough #InSituMicroscopy #HeatingMicroscopy #TEM #InSituTEM
