XRD investigation of ion irradiated Ti3Si0.90Al0.10C2

Ti3SiC2 is one of the most promising materials belonging to Mn+1AXn phases, which exhibit good damage tolerance, thermal stability and mechanical properties.Recently, in the frame of research on future gas cooled fast nuclear reactors, Ti3SiC2 has been considered as an innovative candidate material, which could be incorporated in some core components such as fuel cladding. At the present time, however, very few data are available concerning the behaviour of this material after irradiation. In this work, Ti3Si0.90Al0.10C2 samples were irradiated with high energy Kr and Xe ions and characterized by X-ray diffraction. Patterns were analysed in terms of change in peak intensity, peak position and width. Rietveld refinements were also performed. Increase in micro-strains and lattice parameter with irradiation dose was highlighted. The formation of β-Ti3SiC2, which has never been observed by experimental XRD on non irradiated material, was proposed for the highly irradiated samples. A partial recovery of the microstructure with temperature was found.