Radiation stability of ceramics: Test cases of zirconia and spinel

The study of the effects of radiation in ceramics of potential use in electronic, space and nuclear industries appears to be a major challenge in the next decades. The collect and analysis of data dealing with the production and recovery of radiation damage in this type of materials are thus tasks of prime interest. In this article, we present a review of the main structural and chemical modifications observed in test case ceramics (yttria-stabilized zirconia and magnesium-aluminate spinel) submitted to ion bombardment and thermal treatments. We show that the stability under irradiation depends on the intrinsic properties of the materials and on irradiation parameters such as the ion energy, fluence and temperature. We also demonstrate that the recovery of damage upon annealing at elevated temperatures induces drastic physico-chemical modifications of the matrix.