Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T11:52:00.580Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Beam-Broadening Effects in STEM/EDS Measurement of Radiation-Induced Segregation in High-Purity 304L Stainless Steel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

J.T. Busby ,
T.R. Allen ,
E.A. Kenik ,
N.J. Zaluzec  and
G.S. Was
J.T. Busby
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Ann Arbor, MI48109.
T.R. Allen
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Ann Arbor, MI48109. Argonne National Laboratory-West, Idaho Falls, ID83403
E.A. Kenik
Affiliation:
Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN37831
N.J. Zaluzec
Affiliation:
Metals and Ceramics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL60439
G.S. Was
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Ann Arbor, MI48109.
Get access

Extract

Radiation-induced segregation (RIS) is the spatial redistribution of elements at defect sinks such as grain boundaries and free surfaces during irradiation. This phenomenon has been studied in a wide variety of alloys and has been linked to irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) of nuclear reactor core components. Therefore, accurate determination of the grain boundary composition is important in understanding its effects on environmental cracking. Radiation-induced segregation profiles are routinely measured by scanning-transmission electron microscopy using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM-EDS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Because of the narrow width of the segregation profile (typically less than 10 nm full width at half-maximum), the accuracy of grain boundary concentration measurements using STEM/EDS depends on the characteristics of the analyzing instrument, specifically, the excited volume in which x-rays are generated. This excited volume is determined by both electron beam diameter and the primary electron beam energy. Increasing the primary beam energy in STEM/EDS produces greater measured grain boundary segregation, as the reduced electron beam broadening a smaller excited volume.

Type
Segregation and Diffusion Analysis in Materials
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 3 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis '97, Microscopy Society of America 55th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 31st Annual Meeting, Histochemical Society 48th Annual Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio, August 10-14, 1997 , August 1997 , pp. 545 - 546
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Was, G.S. and Andresen, P., J.Metals 44 (4) (1992) 8.Google Scholar
2.Damcott, D.L., Cookson, J.M., Carter, R.D., Martin, J.R. Jr., Atzmon, M., and Was, G.S., Radiat. Eff. Def. Solids 118 (1991) 383.10.1080/10420159108220763CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Kenik, E.A., Scripta Metall. 21 (1987) 811.10.1016/0036-9748(87)90328-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Goldstein, J.I., in Principles of Analytical Microscopy, eds. Joy, D.C., Romig, A.D. and Goldstein, J.I. (Plenum, New York, 1986).Google Scholar