Comparison of preparation techniques for nuclear materials for transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

Preparation of highly radioactive and irradiated nuclear fuels and materials for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is accompanied with a set of unique challenges. The paper evaluates three specimen preparation techniques for preparation of irradiated materials and determines which technique yields to the most reliable characterization of radiation damage microstructure. Various specimen preparation artifacts associated with each technique are considered and ways of minimizing these artifacts are addressed.