M.A. Vicente Alvarez

Microstructure and texture analysis of δ-hydride precipitation in Zircaloy-4 materials by electron microscopy and neutron diffraction

This work presents a detailed microstructure and texture study of various hydrided Zircaloy-4 materials by neutron diffraction and microscopy. The results show that the precipitated δ-ZrH1.66 generally follows the δ(111)//α(0001) and δ[1{\overline 1}0]//α[11{\overline 2}0] orientation relationship with the α-Zr matrix. The δ-hydride displays a weak texture that is determined by the texture of the α-Zr matrix, and this dependence essentially originates from the observed orientation correlation between α-Zr and δ-hydride. Neutron diffraction line profile analysis and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations reveal a significant number of dislocations present in the δ-hydride, with an estimated average density one order of magnitude higher than that in the α-Zr matrix, which contributes to the accommodation of the substantial misfit strains associated with hydride precipitation in the α-Zr matrix. The present observations provide an insight into the behaviour of δ-hydride precipitation in zirconium alloys and may help with understanding the induced embrittling effect of hydrides.

Tunable stress induced magnetic domain configuration in FePt thin films

We present a study of the magnetic properties of chemically disordered ferromagnetic FePt films of 100 nm thickness that have been grown by sputtering with different Ar pressures ( mTorr). We found that the residual stress can be controlled by the sputtering pressure, which in turn allows to tune the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy due to magnetoelastic effects. Films deposited at lower Ar pressures display an in-plane compressive stress that favors an out of plane component of the magnetization and the formation of a magnetic domain structure in the form of stripes. For higher pressures the stress is relaxed and the magnetic configuration changes to planar domains. These results show the possibility to accurately tune the initial magnetic state in films with potential applications in magnetoelectrically coupled devices.

Critical thickness for stripe domain formation in FePt thin films: Dependence on residual stress

Magnetically soft FePt thin films of varying thickness (20 nm ≤ d ≤ 100 nm) were sputter-deposited at different Ar pressures in order to systematically modify the residual stress and hence the magnetic anisotropy. The magnetic domain structure of FePt thin films showed a transition from planar to nearly parallel stripes above a critical thickness, dcr, which was found to depend on an anisotropy contribution perpendicular to the film plane, originated essentially in magnetoelastic effects. A careful structural characterization was made in order to obtain the strain and the stress induced magnetic anisotropy in the samples. Vibrating sample magnetometry and magnetic force microscopy were used to investigate the changes occurring in the magnetic domain structure and the critical thickness of each set of films. Joining together structural and magnetic results, we have been able to construct a phase diagram that divided regions of different domain structures, either by changing the film thickness or the perpen...

Characterization of Zr-based nuclear components by TOF neutron diffraction

Zr-2.5%Nb pressure tubes are important components of CANDU nuclear power plants. In-reactor performance depends on a number of microstructural parameters such as crystallographic texture, dislocati...