Abstract:
The article outlines findings from a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of doping
CeO2 ceramics with a stabilizing additive Y2O3 on alterations in the strength and thermophysical
parameters of ceramics under high-temperature irradiation with heavy ions comparable in energy
to fission fragments of nuclear fuel, which allows, during high-temperature irradiation, to simulate
radiation damage that is as similar as possible to the fission processes of nuclear fuel. During
the studies, it was found that the addition of a stabilizing additive Y2O3
to the composition of
CeO2 ceramics in the case of high-temperature irradiation causes an increase in stability to swelling
and softening because of a decrease in the thermal expansion of the crystal lattice by 3–8 times in
comparison with unstabilized CeO2 ceramics. It has been determined that the addition of a stabilizing
additive Y2O3
leads not only to a rise in the resistance of the crystal structure to deformation
distortions and swelling, but also to a decrease in the effect of thermal expansion of the crystal
structure, which has an adverse effect on the structural ordering of CeO2 ceramics exposed to
irradiation at high temperatures.
