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Public Relations Aktuelles Archiv Archiv 2011 New Method for Testing Irradiated Material on Nano Scale
Public Relations Aktuelles Archiv Archiv 2011 New Method for Testing Irradiated Material on Nano Scale | New Method for Testing Irradiated Material on Nano Scale |
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A team of experts, including the Leoben material scientist Dr. Daniel Kiener (Chair of Materialphysics), has developed a new method to identify characteristics and deformation mechanisms for irradiated material from microscopically small specimen. The scientific findings of this study were published under the title "In situ nanocompression testing of irradiated copper" by Kiener and co-authors P. Hosemann, S.A. Maloy and A.M. Minor in the renowned periodical "Nature Materials". As the tragic events in Fukushima, Japan have shown, the safety of nuclear plants must be drastically increased. On the hand, this could be achieved through reinforced controls (so-called "stress-tests"), and on the other hand, by taking preventive measures and developing improved materials. "Both procedures are applicable, but also very costly and time-consuming", Dr. Kiener said. "You also need to consider that shutting down all the reactors would seriously impair the supply of the medical industry with radioisotopes and the research in these fields. As an alternative to classic materials testing, Kiener and an international team of scientists from the University of California, Berkley and two national research institutions in the US (Berkeley National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory) have come up with a new method to advance the development and testing of reactor materials. For this purpose, the scientists irradiated copper with protons. This high-energy influence caused material defects that could also be found in reactor material under real conditions. "We could show that we are able to identify mechanical parameters of macroscopic material on samples as small as only ~400 nm (1nm equals one billionth of a metre)", Kiener said. This miniaturisation offers a variety of benefits. As shown in the actual experiment, samples can be irradiated with protons for research purposes while avoiding the risk of material activation (radioactivity), as it would be the case when using neutrons. Moreover, these samples are so tiny that you can see the deformation directly on the atomic scale. "Besides the mechanical parameters, you are also able to receive the deformation mechanism – which is in this case limited to a few atomic levels.” Especially this mechanistic understanding is crucial for materials design. In addition, with radioactive material, the radiation dose scales with the volume. The microscopic sample volumes of this new technology will facilitate safe handling drastically. "Back from the US in Leoben, thanks to the support of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Montanuniversitaet Leoben, we were able to obtain the necessary special equipment for such tests and install the most modern transmission electron microscope of Austria in Leoben", Kiener said.  Further informaton: Ass.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Daniel Kiener Chair of Materialphysics Tel.: +43/(0)3842/804 412 Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.rer.nat. Gerhard Dehm Chair of Materialphysics Tel.: +43/(0)3842/804 109 E-Mail: gerhard.dehm[at]unileoben.ac.at Artikel in "Nature Materials" |