Experimental study of swelling of irradiated solid methane during annealing

Solid methane is still widely in use at pulsed neutron sources due to its excellent neutronic performance (IPNS, KENS, Second Target Station at ISIS), notwithstanding poor radiation properties. One of the specific problems is radiolytic hydrogen gas pressure on the walls of a methane chamber during annealing of methane. In this paper results of an experimental study of this phenomenon under fast neutron irradiation with the help of a specially made low temperature irradiation rig at the IBR-2 pulsed reactor are presented. The peak pressure on the wall of the experimental capsule during heating of a sample irradiated at 23-35 K appears to have a maximum of 2.7 MPa at an absorbed dose 20 MGy and then falls down with higher doses. The pressure always reached its peak value at the temperature range 72-79 K. Generally, three phases of methane swelling during heating can be distinguished, each characterized by a proper rate and intensity.