Effects of Al addition on Vickers hardness increase by thermal aging of Fe-Cr-Al alloys; Evaluation by systematic experiments, machine learning modeling, and first-principles calculations

Abe, Yosuke; Tsuru, Tomohito; Fujita, Yohei*; Otomo, Masahide*; Sasaki, Taisuke*; Yamashita, Shinichiro; Okubo, Nariaki; Ukai, Shigeharu

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 606, p.155606_1 - 155606_12, 2025/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.155606

We investigated the effect of Al addition on the formation of phase in Fe-Cr-Al model alloys by thermal aging. The Vickers hardness tests and a machine learning model indicate that the formation of the phase is promoted by low Al additions and suppressed by high Al additions. First-principles calculations, which indicate that Cr-Al-vacancy pairs are more stable than Cr-Cr pairs and that including Al atoms during phase nucleation may be energetically advantageous. On the other hand, the formation of Al-Al pairs was very unstable. The formation of Al-Al pairs near the interface can be avoided when the amount of Al addition is small. However, it is inevitable when the amount of Al addition is significant, leading to the instability of the phase.

Production rates of long-lived radionuclides Be and Al under direct muon-induced spallation in granite quartz and its implications for past high-energy cosmic ray fluxes

Sakurai, Hirohisa*; Kurebayashi, Yutaka*; Suzuki, Soichiro*; Horiuchi, Kazuho*; Takahashi, Yui*; Doshita, Norihiro*; Kikuchi, Satoshi*; Tokanai, Fuyuki*; Iwata, Naoyoshi*; Tajima, Yasushi*; et al.

Physical Review D, 109(10), p.102005_1 - 102005_18, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.102005

Secular variations of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) are inseparably associated with the galactic activities and should reflect the environments of the local galactic magnetic field, interstellar clouds, and nearby supernova remnants. The high-energy muons produced in the atmosphere by high-energy GCRs can penetrate deep underground and generate radioisotopes in the rock. As long lived radionuclides such as Be and Al have been accumulating in these rocks, concentrations of Be and Al can be used to estimate the long-term variations in high-energy muon yields, corresponding to those in the high-energy GCRs over a few million years. This study measured the production cross sections for muon induced Be and Al by irradiating positive muons with the momentum of 160 GeV/c on the synthetic silica plates and the granite core at the COMPASS experiment line in CERN SPS. In addition, it the contributions of the direct muon spallation reaction and the nuclear reactions by muon-induced particles on the production of long lived radionuclides in the rocks were clarified.

Fabrication of (Bi)(BiTe) superlattice films by Te desorption from a pristine BiTe film

Kusaka, Shotaro*; Sasaki, Taisuke*; Sumida, Kazuki; Ichinokura, Satoru*; Ideta, Shinichiro*; Tanaka, Kiyohisa*; Hono, Kazuhiro*; Hirahara, Toru*

Applied Physics Letters, 120(17), p.173102_1 - 173102_5, 2022/04

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0090207

Fabrication of a novel magnetic topological heterostructure and temperature evolution of its massive Dirac cone

Hirahara, Toru*; Otrokov, M. M.*; Sasaki, Taisuke*; Sumida, Kazuki*; Tomohiro, Yuta*; Kusaka, Shotaro*; Okuyama, Yuma*; Ichinokura, Satoru*; Kobayashi, Masaki*; Takeda, Yukiharu; et al.

Nature Communications (Internet), 11, p.4821_1 - 4821_8, 2020/09

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18645-9

Radiation monitoring using manned helicopter around the Nuclear Power Station in the fiscal year 2015 (Contract research)

Sanada, Yukihisa; Munakata, Masahiro; Mori, Airi; Ishizaki, Azusa; Shimada, Kazumasa; Hirouchi, Jun; Nishizawa, Yukiyasu; Urabe, Yoshimi; Nakanishi, Chika*; Yamada, Tsutomu*; et al.

JAEA-Research 2016-016, 131 Pages, 2016/10

JAEA-Research-2016-016.pdf:20.59MB

By the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), caused by the East Japan earthquake and the following tsunami occurred on March 11, 2011, a large amount of radioactive materials was released from the NPS. After the nuclear disaster, airborne radiation monitoring using manned helicopter was conducted around FDNPS. In addition, background dose rate monitoring was conducted around Sendai Nuclear Power Station. These results of the aerial radiation monitoring using the manned helicopter in the fiscal 2015 were summarized in the report.

Immersion test in artificial water and evaluation of strength property on fuel cladding tubes irradiated in Fugen Nuclear Power Plant

Yamagata, Ichiro; Hayashi, Takehiro; Mashiko, Shinichi*; Sasaki, Shinji; Inoue, Masaki; Yamashita, Shinichiro; Maeda, Koji

JAEA-Testing 2013-004, 23 Pages, 2013/11

JAEA-Testing-2013-004.pdf:8.59MB

In the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Co. accompanying the Great East Japan Earthquake, fuel assemblies kept in the spent fuel pool of reactor units 1-4, were exposed to the inconceivable environment such as falling and mixing of rubble, especially seawater were injected into unit 2-4. In order to evaluate the integrity of the fuel assemblies in spent fuel pools, and in the long-term storage after transported to the common storage pool, the immersion tests were performed using zircaloy-2 fuel cladding tubes irradiated in the advanced thermal reactor Fugen. The immersion liquid was prepared with doubling dilution of artificial seawater, which temperature was 80 C and immersion time was about 336 hours, as assuming the situation of the pool. The results indicated zircaloy-2 cladding tubes had no significant corrosion and no influence on mechanical property by immersion tests with artificial seawater conditions of this work.

Theoretical optimization of base doping concentration for radiation resistance of InGaP subcells of InGaP/GaAs/Ge based on minority-carrier lifetime

Elfiky, D.*; Yamaguchi, Masafumi*; Sasaki, Takuo*; Takamoto, Tatsuya*; Morioka, Chiharu*; Imaizumi, Mitsuru*; Oshima, Takeshi; Sato, Shinichiro; Elnawawy, M.*; Eldesoky, T.*; et al.

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 49(12), p.121201_1 - 121201_7, 2010/12

https://doi.org/10.1143/JJAP.49.121201

One of the fundamental objectives for research and development of space solar cells is to improve their radiation resistance. InGaP solar cells with low base carrier concentrations under low-energy proton irradiations have shown high radiation resistances. In this study, an analytical model for low-energy proton radiation damage to InGaP subcells based on a fundamental approach for radiative and nonradiative recombinations has been proposed. The radiation resistance of InGaP subcells as a function of base carrier concentration has been analyzed by using the radiative recombination lifetime and damage coefficient K for the minority-carrier lifetime of InGaP. Numerical analysis shows that an InGaP solar cell with a lower base carrier concentration is more radiation-resistant. Satisfactory agreements between analytical and experimental results have been obtained, and these results show the validity of the analytical procedure. The damage coefficients for minority-carrier diffusion length and carrier removal rate with low-energy proton irradiations have been observed to be dependent on carrier concentration through this study. As physical mechanisms behind the difference observed between the radiation-resistant properties of various base doping concentrations, two mechanisms, namely, the effect of a depletion layer as a carrier collection layer and generation of the impurity-related complex defects due to low-energy protons stopping within the active region, have been proposed.

Study the effects of proton irradiation on GaAs/Ge solar cells

Elfiky, D.*; Yamaguchi, Masafumi*; Sasaki, Takuo*; Takamoto, Tatsuya*; Morioka, Chiharu*; Imaizumi, Mitsuru*; Oshima, Takeshi; Sato, Shinichiro; Elnawawy, M.*; Eldesuky, T.*; et al.

Proceedings of 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC-35) (CD-ROM), p.002528 - 002532, 2010/06

https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2010.5614633

Proton energy dependence of radiation damage to GaAs/Ge solar cells irradiated with protons with various energies (50 keV, 200 keV, 1 MeV and 9.5 MeV) were analyzed by using PC1D simulation together with SRIM simulations to investigate their electrical properties. The degradation of the open-circuit voltage is highest for 50 keV irradiation and lowest for 9.5 MeV irradiation. According to SRIM simulations the above changes in electrical properties are mainly related to damage in different regions of the solar sells.

Mutation induction in using ion beam irradiation

Kobayashi, Nobuo*; Kano, Sayaka*; Sasaki, Shinichiro*; Tasaki, Keisuke*; Nakatsuka, Akira*; Nozawa, Shigeki; Hase, Yoshihiro; Narumi, Issei

JAEA-Review 2009-041, JAEA Takasaki Annual Report 2008, P. 77, 2009/12

https://jopss.jaea.go.jp/pdfdata/JAEA-Review-2009-041.pdf

Practices for scientific communication on nuclear waste disposal towards the future generation

Sasaki, Yasuo; Numata, Yoshiaki; Torata, Shinichiro

JAEA-Review 2008-068, 23 Pages, 2009/02

JAEA-Review-2008-068.pdf:2.73MB

The nuclear waste disposal is still in discussion as one of the key issue while we continue the sustainable atomic energy use, and it has been taking with much of the viewpoint of the social acceptance. In addition it may be said that it is the problem that the long term necessity to promote the disposal arise the subjects of the security of people who take charge of the disposal project. Also the management of knowledge with technical information between generations would become another subject in the future. To find the way out of these concerns, the practices having been tryed by the researcher group towards the student generation are reviewed in this report. The results of the opinion exchange and scientific communication with the people in the educational institution by the disposal research scientists are reviewed based on the questionnaire and discussion at a practice of schooling and lecture at high schools and universities.