Irradiation-induced effects of proton irradiation on zirconium carbides with different stoichiometries

Highlights: • ZrC_x with four different stoichiometries (x = 0.9–1.2 with 0.1 step) were studied. • Proton irradiation at 800 °C introduced large amount of dislocation loops. • No voids were found before or after irradiation. • Dislocation loops size distribution and density varied with stoichiometry. - Abstract: Zirconium carbide (ZrC) is being considered for utilization in deep burn TRISO fuel particles for high-temperature, gas-cooled reactors. Zirconium carbide has a cubic B1 type crystal structure along with a very high melting point (3420 °C), exceptional hardness and good thermal and electrical conductivities. Understanding the ZrC irradiation response is crucial for establishing ZrC as an alternative component in TRISO fuel. Until now, very few studies on irradiation effects on ZrC have been released and fundamental aspects of defect evolution and kinetics are not well understood although some atomistic simulations and phenomenological studies have been performed. This work was carried out to understand the damage evolution in float-zone refined ZrC with different stoichiometries. Proton irradiations at 800 °C up to doses of 3 dpa were performed on ZrC_x (where x ranges from 0.9 to 1.2) to investigate the damage evolution. The irradiation-induced defects, such as density of dislocation loops, at different stoichiometries and doses which were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is presented and discussed