Studies of irradiated two-phase lithium ceramics Li4SiO4/Li2TiO3 by thermal desorption spectroscopy


Chikhray Y. Askerbekov S. Knitter R. Kulsartov T. Shaimerdenov A. Aitkulov M. Akhanov A. Sairanbayev D. Bugybay Z. Nessipbay A. Kisselyov K. Kizane G. Zarins A.
March 2024Elsevier Ltd

Nuclear Materials and Energy
2024#38

Two-phase ceramics Li2TiO3-Li4SiO4 are one of the potentially promising materials for creating a ceramic blanket for DEMO reactor. However, until now, a limited number of studies have been carried out on the release of tritium from this material under the influence of neutron irradiation, which poses fundamental problems for its application. In this work, the pebbles of two-phase lithium ceramics consisting of 25 mol% Li2TiO3 and 75 mol% Li4SiO4 were studied using thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) after their irradiation with neutrons at the WWR-K research reactor. Under the conditions of the irradiation experiment, which lasted 21.5 days at a reactor power of 6 MW, the samples were exposed to thermal neutrons with a flux density of 2·1013n/(cm2 × s). The thermal neutron fluence accumulated as a result of irradiation was 3.7·1019 cm−2. It has been established that tritium comes out mainly in the form of HT molecules and has three visible TDS peaks, which can be described by three rates of the first-order desorption reaction with an activation energy of 90 kJ/mol. Experiments have shown that the main amount of tritium is evenly distributed throughout the pebbles pores and voids. Its yield is determined by desorption and transfer from inner voids to the boundaries that communicate with the outer surface of the sample. The kinetics of tritium release depends on the number, size and depth of the exit paths of such areas inside the ceramic.

Neutron irradiation , RGA , TDS , Tritium , Tritium release , Two-phase lithium ceramics

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al-Farabi, Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Institute of Nuclear Physics, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
Kazakh-British Technical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

al-Farabi
Institute of Nuclear Physics
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Kazakh-British Technical University
University of Latvia

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