Study on helium behavior in oxide fuel, 1; Deformation of microstructure induced by precipitation of helium (Joint research)

Serizawa, Hiroyuki  ; Matsunaga, Junji*; Haga, Yoshinori   ; Nakajima, Kunihisa  ; Kashibe, Shinji*; Iwai, Takashi

This report deals with the precipitation of helium in UO matrix to deform the microstructure. The examination was performed using single and polycrystalline UO sample. The helium-treated samples under 900 atm at 1473 K were reheat-treated at much more high temperature, 1573 K or 1973 K to release the infused helium. The microstructure of the sample was examined by FIB, FE-STEM and FE-TEM. It was confirmed that precipitated helium atoms form a negative crystal in the grain or the matrix of the single crystal. At 1573 K, helium can be released without formation of intergranular tunnel since the surface diffusion coefficient of helium is large. However, some open grain boundaries were observed in the sample heat-treated at 1973 K. This might be related to the activity of helium in the grain boundary region. The structure of the negative crystal was analyzed from the view point of the thermodynamics of the surface growth.