Morpho-topological volume analysis of porous materials for nuclear applications

The filtered medial line operator is a methodological tool for the morphological and topological analysis of reconstructed samples exhibiting either a porosity network or a granular structure such as bead packs. An application example of this methodology is the evaluation of the pore structure and the derived topological parameters of nanocrystalline 4Y-ZrO2 specimens simulating the high burn-up structure of UO2 fuel. The data indicate the absence of percolation paths at the experimental resolution, which is a beneficial property in terms of retaining fission gasses during the in-pile operation of the fuel. Furthermore, the analysis revealed a tendency for pore coalescence, which could explain the departure from the ideal behaviour of some physical properties typical of material matrices with a population of merely spherical pores. The same analytical tool is also used to characterise the porosity network created by gas bubbles in neutron irradiated beryllium samples, a material meant to be used for the blanket of the forthcoming generation of Tokamak fusion reactors. In particular, the preliminary results of the quantitative analysis performed on the porosity of the beryllium matrix as well as the initial investigation of its percolation properties are reported.

PIERITZ Romeu;  SPINO Jose Luis;  VLADIMIROV Pavel;  FERRERO Claudio; 

2013-04-22

CARL HANSER VERLAG

JRC68198

1862-5282,   

http://www.ijmr.de/web/o_archiv.asp?ps=MK110670&task=03&o_id=25112811648-50,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC68198,   

10.3139/146.110670,