Cameron L. Tracy

Probing disorder in isometric pyrochlore and related complex oxides

There has been an increased focus on understanding the energetics of structures with unconventional ordering (for example, correlated disorder that is heterogeneous across different length scales). In particular, compounds with the isometric pyrochlore structure, A2B2O7, can adopt a disordered, isometric fluorite-type structure, (A, B)4O7, under extreme conditions. Despite the importance of the disordering process there exists only a limited understanding of the role of local ordering on the energy landscape. We have used neutron total scattering to show that disordered fluorite (induced intrinsically by composition/stoichiometry or at far-from-equilibrium conditions produced by high-energy radiation) consists of a local orthorhombic structural unit that is repeated by a pseudo-translational symmetry, such that orthorhombic and isometric arrays coexist at different length scales. We also show that inversion in isometric spinel occurs by a similar process. This insight provides a new basis for understanding order-to-disorder transformations important for applications such as plutonium immobilization, fast ion conduction, and thermal barrier coatings.

Redox response of actinide materials to highly ionizing radiation

Energetic radiation can cause dramatic changes in the physical and chemical properties of actinide materials, degrading their performance in fission-based energy systems. As advanced nuclear fuels and wasteforms are developed, fundamental understanding of the processes controlling radiation damage accumulation is necessary. Here we report oxidation state reduction of actinide and analogue elements caused by high-energy, heavy ion irradiation and demonstrate coupling of this redox behaviour with structural modifications. ThO2, in which thorium is stable only in a tetravalent state, exhibits damage accumulation processes distinct from those of multivalent cation compounds CeO2 (Ce(3+) and Ce(4+)) and UO3 (U(4+), U(5+) and U(6+)). The radiation tolerance of these materials depends on the efficiency of this redox reaction, such that damage can be inhibited by altering grain size and cation valence variability. Thus, the redox behaviour of actinide materials is important for the design of nuclear fuels and the prediction of their performance.

High pressure synthesis of a hexagonal close-packed phase of the high-entropy alloy CrMnFeCoNi

High-entropy alloys, near-equiatomic solid solutions of five or more elements, represent a new strategy for the design of materials with properties superior to those of conventional alloys. However, their phase space remains constrained, with transition metal high-entropy alloys exhibiting only face- or body-centered cubic structures. Here, we report the high-pressure synthesis of a hexagonal close-packed phase of the prototypical high-entropy alloy CrMnFeCoNi. This martensitic transformation begins at 14 GPa and is attributed to suppression of the local magnetic moments, destabilizing the initial fcc structure. Similar to fcc-to-hcp transformations in Al and the noble gases, the transformation is sluggish, occurring over a range of >40 GPa. However, the behaviour of CrMnFeCoNi is unique in that the hcp phase is retained following decompression to ambient pressure, yielding metastable fcc-hcp mixtures. This demonstrates a means of tuning the structures and properties of high-entropy alloys in a manner not achievable by conventional processing techniques.

Defect accumulation in swift heavy ion-irradiated CeO2 and ThO2

Neutron total scattering was used to investigate defect accumulation mechanisms in CeO2 and ThO2 irradiated with 2.2 GeV Au ions. Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis was applied to characterize the local structural evolution and irradiation-induced defects as a function of irradiation fluence. CeO2 exhibits a greater amount of disorder than ThO2 under the same irradiation conditions. The local structures of the two materials evolve differently as a function of ion fluence, even if similar defects are produced. The PDF analysis indicates that oxygen dimer and/or peroxide defects with 〈O–O〉 distances of ∼1.45 A are formed in CeO2, while irradiation-induced defects in ThO2 result in a change in the mean O–Th–O bond angle and a distortion of local ThO8 polyhedra. Understanding how bound oxygen defects, such as peroxide, affect bulk oxygen transport in CeO2 will aid in better predicting and improving properties of fluorite structure materials for fast ion conductor applications.

In situ defect annealing of swift heavy ion irradiated CeO2 and ThO2 using synchrotron X‐ray diffraction and a hydrothermal diamond anvil cell

Hydrothermal diamond anvil cells (HDACs) provide facile means for coupling synchrotron X-ray techniques with pressure up to 10 GPa and temperature up to 1300 K. This manuscript reports on an application of the HDAC as an ambient-pressure sample environment for performing in situ defect annealing and thermal expansion studies of swift heavy ion irradiated CeO2 and ThO2 using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The advantages of the in situ HDAC technique over conventional annealing methods include rapid temperature ramping and quench times, high-resolution measurement capability, simultaneous annealing of multiple samples, and prolonged temperature and apparatus stability at high temperatures. Isochronal annealing between 300 and 1100 K revealed two-stage and one-stage defect recovery processes for irradiated CeO2 and ThO2, respectively, indicating that the morphology of the defects produced by swift heavy ion irradiation of these two materials differs significantly. These results suggest that electronic configuration plays a major role in both the radiation-induced defect production and high-temperature defect recovery mechanisms of CeO2 and ThO2.

Ultrafast laser and swift heavy ion irradiation: Response of Gd2O3 and ZrO2 to intense electronic excitation

In order to investigate the response of materials to extreme conditions, there are several approaches to depositing extremely high concentrations of energy into very small volumes of material, including ultrafast laser and swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation. In this study, crystalline-to-crystalline phase transformations in cubic Gd2O3 and monoclinic ZrO2 have been investigated using ultrafast laser irradiation. The phases produced by the extreme conditions of irradiation were characterized by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Gd2O3 exhibited a cubic-to-monoclinic phase transformation, as evidenced by the appearance of the monoclinic (40 2¯), (003), (310), and (11 2¯) peaks in the GIXRD pattern and of four Ag and three Bg Raman modes. ZrO2 underwent a monoclinic-to-tetragonal phase transformation, as evidenced by the emergence of the tetragonal (101) peak in the GIXRD pattern and of Eg and A1g Raman modes. The new phases formed by ultrafast laser irradiation are high tempe...

Pressure-induced structural modifications of rare-earth hafnate pyrochlore

Complex oxides with the pyrochlore (A2B2O7) and defect-fluorite ((A,B)4O7) structure-types undergo structural transformations under high-pressure. Rare-earth hafnates (A2Hf2O7) form the pyrochlore structure for A  =  La-Tb and the defect-fluorite structure for A  =  Dy-Lu. High-pressure transformations in A2Hf2O7 pyrochlore (A  =  Sm, Eu, Gd) and defect-fluorite (A  =  Dy, Y, Yb) were investigated up to ~50 GPa and characterized by in situ Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron x-ray diffraction (XRD). Raman spectra at ambient pressure revealed that all compositions, including the defect-fluorites, have some pyrochlore-type short-range order. In situ high-pressure synchrotron XRD showed that all of the rare earth hafnates investigated undergo a pressure-induced phase transition to a cotunnite-like (orthorhombic) structure that begins between 18 and 25 GPa. The phase transition to the cotunnite-like structure is not complete at 50 GPa, and upon release of pressure, the hafnates transform to defect-fluorite with an amorphous component. For all compositions, in situ Raman spectroscopy showed that disordering occurs gradually with increasing pressure. Pyrochlore-structured hafnates retain their short-range order to a higher pressure (30 GPa vs.  <10 GPa) than defect-fluorite-structured hafnates. Rare earth hafnates quenched from 50 GPa show Raman spectra consistent with weberite-type structures, as also reported for irradiated rare-earth stannates. The second-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state fit gives a bulk modulus of ~250 GPa for hafnates with the pyrochlore structure, and ~400 GPa for hafnates with the defect-fluorite structure. Dy2Hf2O7 is intermediate in its response, with some pyrochlore-type ordering, based on Raman spectroscopy and the equation of state, with a bulk modulus of ~300 GPa. As predicted based on the similar ionic radius of Zr4+ and Hf4+, rare-earth hafnates show similar behavior to that reported for rare earth zirconates at high pressure.

Policy: Reassess New Mexico's nuclear-waste repository.

More than 600 metres below ground near Carlsbad, New Mexico, is the world’s only operating deep geological repository currently accepting transuranic nuclear waste: that contaminated by elements heavier than uranium. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), run by the US Department of Energy (DOE), is used to dispose of laboratory equipment, clothing and residues from the nation’s nuclear-defence programme. In the past 15 years, around 91,000 cubic metres (equivalent to covering a soccer field to a depth of about 13 metres) of such transuranic waste, mostly of relatively low radiation levels, has been placed there. The main contaminants are long-lived isotopes of plutonium (mainly plutonium-239, with a half-life of 24,100 years, and plutonium-240, with a half-life of 6,560 years) and shorter-lived isotopes of americium and curium. In rooms carved out of a 250-million-year-old salt bed, the waste is stored in hundreds of thousands of plasticlined steel drums. The repository is now at about half of its planned capacity and is to be sealed in 2033. The DOE is responsible for performing safety assessments to ensure that WIPP will not exceed limits on exposure to radioactivity, as set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for 10,000 years. But new demands are emerging. An arms-control agreement with Russia made in 2000 obliges the United States to dispose of 34 tonnes of plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons. Following the terms of the agreement, the United States planned to convert the material into a fuel — mixed (uranium and plutonium) oxide, or MOX Reassess New Mexico’s nuclear-waste repository

Lanthanide stannate pyrochlores (Ln2Sn2O7; Ln = Nd, Gd, Er) at high pressure

Lanthanide stannate pyrochlores (Ln2Sn2O7; Ln  =  Nd, Gd, and Er) were investigated in situ to 50 GPa in order to determine their structural response to compression and compare their response to that of lanthanide titanate, zirconate, and hafnate pyrochlores. The cation radius ratio of A3+/B4+ in pyrochlore oxides (A2B2O7) is thought to be the dominant feature that influences their response on compression. The ionic radius of Sn4+ is intermediate to that of Ti4+, Zr4+, and Hf4+, but the 〈Sn-O〉 bond in stannate pyrochlore is more covalent than the 〈B-O〉 bonds in titanates, zirconate, and hafnates. In stannates, based on in situ Raman spectroscopy, pyrochlore cation and anion sublattices begin to disorder with the onset of compression, first measured at 0.3 GPa. The extent of sublattice disorder versus pressure is greater in stannates with a smaller Ln3+ cation. Stannate pyrochlores (Fd-3m) begin a sluggish transformation to an orthorhombic, cotunnite-like structure at ~28 GPa; similar transitions have been observed in titanate, zirconate, and hafnate pyrochlores at varying pressures (18-40 GPa) with cation radius ratio. The extent of the phase transition versus pressure varies directly with the size of the Ln3+ cation. Post-decompression from ~50 GPa, Er2Sn2O7 and Gd2Sn2O7 adopt a pyrochlore structure, rather than the multi-scale defect-fluorite  +  weberite-type structure adopted by Nd2Sn2O7 that is characteristic of titanate, zirconate, and hafnate pyrochlores under similar conditions. Like pyrochlore titanates, zirconates, and hafnates, the bulk modulus, B 0, of stannates varies linearly and inversely with cation radius ratio from 1 1 1 GPa (Nd2Sn2O7) to 251 GPa (Er2Sn2O7). The trends of bulk moduli in stannates in this study are in excellent agreement with previous experimental studies on stannates and suggest that the size of the Ln3+ cation is the primary determining factor of B 0. Additionally, when normalized to r A/r B, the bulk moduli of stannates are comparable to those of zirconates and hafnates, which vary from titanates. Our results suggest that the cation radius ratio strongly influences the bulk moduli of stannates, as well as their overall compression response.

Initial stages of ion beam-induced phase transformations in Gd2O3 and Lu2O3

The atomic-scale evolution of lanthanide sesquioxides Gd2O3 and Lu2O3 irradiated with 1 MeV Kr ions at room temperature and 120 K, up to fluences of 1 × 1016 ions/cm2 (∼20 dpa), has been characterized by in situ transmission electron microscopy. At room temperature, both oxides exhibited high radiation tolerance. Irradiation did not cause any observable structural change in either material, likely due to the mobility of irradiation-induced point defects, causing efficient defect annihilation. For Gd2O3, having the larger cation ionic radius of the two materials, an irradiation-induced stacking fault structure appeared at low fluences in the low temperature irradiation. As compared with the cubic-to-monoclinic phase transformations known to result from higher energy (∼GeV) ion irradiation, Kr ions of lower energies (∼MeV) yield much lower rates of damage accumulation and thus less extensive structural modification. At a fluence of 2.5 × 1015 ions/cm2, only the initial stages of the cubic-to-monoclinic (C to B) phase transformation process, consisting of the formation and aggregation of defects, have been observed.The atomic-scale evolution of lanthanide sesquioxides Gd2O3 and Lu2O3 irradiated with 1 MeV Kr ions at room temperature and 120 K, up to fluences of 1 × 1016 ions/cm2 (∼20 dpa), has been characterized by in situ transmission electron microscopy. At room temperature, both oxides exhibited high radiation tolerance. Irradiation did not cause any observable structural change in either material, likely due to the mobility of irradiation-induced point defects, causing efficient defect annihilation. For Gd2O3, having the larger cation ionic radius of the two materials, an irradiation-induced stacking fault structure appeared at low fluences in the low temperature irradiation. As compared with the cubic-to-monoclinic phase transformations known to result from higher energy (∼GeV) ion irradiation, Kr ions of lower energies (∼MeV) yield much lower rates of damage accumulation and thus less extensive structural modification. At a fluence of 2.5 × 1015 ions/cm2, only the initial stages of the cubic-to-monoclinic (C t...