Ceri A. Williams

Nuclear reactor materials at the atomic scale

With the renewed interest in nuclear energy, developing new materials able to respond to the stringent requirements of the next-generation fission and future fusion reactors has become a priority. An efficient search for such materials requires detailed knowledge of material behaviour under irradiation, high temperatures and corrosive environments. Minimizing the rates of materials degradation will be possible only if the mechanisms by which it occurs are understood. Atomic-scale experimental probing as well as modelling can provide some answers and help predict in-service behaviour. This article illustrates how this approach has already improved our understanding of precipitation under irradiation, corrosion behaviour, and stress corrosion cracking. It is also now beginning to provide guidance for the development of new alloys.

New Insights into the Atomic-Scale Structures and Behavior of Steels

Atom probe tomography (APT) has significantly contributed to our understanding and development of structural materials through the detailed analysis of solute behavior, cluster formation, precipitate evolution, and interfacial and grain boundary chemistry. Whether one is concerned with light alloys, Ni-based superalloys, or steels, the design objectives are similar: developing alloys with optimum properties (strength, toughness, ductility, fatigue resistance, creep strength) through controlled precipitation, grain structure, solute state, and combination of phases. Performance in service, through microstructural stability and resistance to degradation, is also a major design criterion for the development of novel materials.

Studies of dislocations by field ion microscopy and atom probe tomography

Alan Cottrell was among the first to recognize the potential of field ion microscopy for the atomic-scale study of crystal defects. The study of atomic configurations at the core of dislocations by this method proved to be unexpectedly difficult, because of the mechanical stresses imposed on the specimen by the high electric field. The development of atom probe tomography revitalized such studies. In particular, the atom probe technique permitted the first direct observations of solute atom distributions in the region of dislocations and confirmed the existence of so-called ‘Cottrell Atmospheres’ which are of great importance in the understanding of phenomena such as strain ageing. Atom probe studies of dislocation–solute interactions in a diverse range of alloy systems are outlined.

Quantifying the composition of yttrium and oxygen rich nanoparticles in oxide dispersion strengthened steels

Atom probe tomography (APT) is used to investigate the composition of oxygen rich nanoparticles within a ferritic matrix in Fe-14Cr-2W-0.1Ti oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) steel. This study investigates whether artifacts associated with APT analysis are the cause of a sub-stoichiometric oxide composition measurement. Bulk Y₂O₃ is analyzed by APT, thus demonstrating the ability of the technique to measure near-stoichiometric composition measurements in insulating oxides. Through analysis of the sequence of ion hits on the detector during APT data acquisition, it is shown that a proportion of yttrium hits are spatially correlated but oxygen hits are not. Y-O based nanoparticles in a ferritic matrix are analyzed by APT using voltage pulsing and a laser pulsing with a range of laser energies from 0.3-0.8 nJ. When the material is analyzed using a high effective evaporation field, this influences the effect of trajectory aberrations, and the apparent size of the nanoparticles is reduced. Some reduction in Y:O ratio is observed, caused by high instances of multiple-ion evaporation events. From a detailed comparison between the results of APT analysis of the bulk Y₂O₃ the nanoparticles in the ODS material are concluded to have an approximate Y:O ratio of 1:1.

3D atomic-scale chemical analysis of engineering alloys

The 3-dimensional atom probe (3DAP) permits the 3D reconstruction of atomicscale chemical variations within conductive materials, often termed atom probe tomography (APT). Position-sensitive time-of-flight mass spectrometry is used to locate (to sub-nanometre resolution) and chemically identify single atoms removed from the surface of a needle-shaped specimen (end radius 50 – 100 nm) [1].