辐照导致硼硅酸盐玻璃机械性能变化

Irradiation-induced modifications in the mechanical properties of borosilicate glass

为了模拟研究高放废物玻璃固化体在处置过程中因辐照导致的机械性能变化,本文采用5 MeV Xe离子和1.2 MeV电子辐照硼硅酸盐玻璃,利用纳米压痕技术表征了辐照前后样品的硬度和模量,并利用傅里叶变换衰减全反射红外光谱测试,研究了辐照导致玻璃机械性能变化的微观机理.结果表明:当能量沉积达到6.6×10^(21)keV/cm^3时,Xe离子辐照样品的硬度和模量下降都达到饱和,其中硬度下降约24%,模量下降约7.4%;电子辐照后样品的硬度和模量也有轻微下降,但在实验所用剂量范围内硬度和模量下降未出现饱和现象,当吸收剂量达到最大值(1×10~9 Gy)时,硬度和模量分别下降约4.7%和2.9%.分析表明:Xe离子辐照后样品的恢复阻力增大,韧性提高,整体机械性能提升,而电子辐照后样品的机械性能无明显变化.研究结果证明了离子辐照导致玻璃机械性能变化的主要因素是离子在样品中的核能量沉积.

Understanding the evolutions of the mechanical properties of borosilicate glasses under irradiation is crucial for evaluating their performances after long-term interaction with the irradiation environment in the disposal of high level nuclear waste.The variations of the mechanical properties of borosilicate glasses,induced by irradiation have been extensively studied.However,the mechanisms of variations in mechanical properties,induced by irradiation have not been clarified yet,especially when considering the effects of electronic and nuclear processes,respectively.To clarify this issue,a commercial borosilicate glass is investigated through an external irradiation of 5 MeV Xe ions and 1.2 MeV electrons in this paper.The nano-indentation test is used to study the changes of the hardness and modulus.The microstructure evolutions of Xe ion irradiated borosilicate glasses are characterized by Fourier transform infrared（FTIR）spectroscopy to discuss the mechanisms in the evolutions of mechanical properties.The nano-indentation results indicate that the hardness is reduced by 24%,and the modulus is lessened by 7.4%after the glass has been irradiated by Xe ions.Both the hardness and modulus variations reach their stable states when the total deposited energy is around6.6×1021 keV/cm3.Although hardness and modulus are also observed to decrease by about 4.7%and 2.9%,resepectively,when the total deposited energy reaches approximately 1.4×1022 keV/cm3 after the glass has experienced the electron irradiation,the results still emphasize that the nuclear energy deposition is the major factor for the evolutions of the hardness and modulus of the borosilicate glass under ion irradiation.The decreases of hardness and modulus after the glass has experienced ion irradiation can be attributed to the deformation of glass network and volume expansion,which are induced by reducing the average ring size and transforming from[BO4]to[BO3]units.By considering the recovery resistance,it is found that the toughness of the borosilicate glass is significantly strengthened,and therefore the mechanical properties of the borosilicate glass are enhanced after the glass has been irradiated by Xe ions.Compared with the results after ion irradiation,the mechanical properties have negligible changes after electron irradiation.The present work is important for understanding both the irradiation effects on the hardness/modulus and the variations in the mechanical properties during the high level waste disposal.