Exploring Phase and Microstructural Evolution through In-situ Ion Irradiation Scanning Electron Microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy

Understanding the evolution of structural and functional materials is essential to both understanding their evolution during processing, as well predicting the stability during use in the complex environmental conditions. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has developed a combination of tool sets that permit the thermal, mechanical, and radiation stability of samples to be probed. This includes ahighly modified JEOL 2100 environmental Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) that is connected to a 6 MV Tandem, 1 MV Tandem, and 10 kV Colutron, as well as three lasers. The irradiation conditions produced here, can be coupled with a variety of in-situ TEM stages including heating, cryogenic, gas flow, liquid flow, and small-scale mechanical testing thus permitting a range of coupled environments that can be explored. In a similar manner, a highly modified JEOL IT300 environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) has been connected to a 6 MV Tandem, 1 MV Tandem, and 1.2 kV high flux ion source, as well as an IR laser. It also has the ability to chemical, phase, and orientation mapping intermittently during heating, cryogenic, stagnant liquid exposure, mechanical testing or various combination thereof. The potential of such a tool set will be highlighted with demonstrations of in-situ TEM creep of zirconia at 2100 C, in-situ SEM observation of liquid corrosion during ion irradiation, irradiation induced creep in a TEM, and the suppression of high-cycle fatigue failure due to radiation damage.

The Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. SNL is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525.