Abstract:
The influence of high-fluence ion irradiation of nanostructured (Ti, Hf, Zr, V, Nb)N coatings is revealed for the first time. The energy of irradiating helium ions is equal to 500 keV, and their fluence falls into the interval 5 $\times$ 10$^{16}$–3 $\times$ 10$^{17}$ ions/cm$^2$. The performance of the coatings in a nuclear reactor is simulated by conducting post-irradiation thermal annealing at 773 K for 15 min. The elemental composition, structure, morphology, and strength properties of the (Ti, Hf, Zr, V, Nb)N coatings are studied before and after irradiation. No considerable structural and phase modifications in the coatings are found after irradiation, except for the fact that crystallites in the coatings drastically reduce in size to less than 10 nm. Nor does the atomic composition of the coatings change. It is shown that the microhardness of the coatings depends on the fluence of irradiating ions nonlinearly. It can be argued that the (Ti, Hf, Zr, V, Nb)N coatings are radiationresistant and hence promising for claddings of fuel elements in nuclear reactors.
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