The transport of silver in CVD (beta)-SiC has been studied using ion implantation. Silver ions were implanted in (beta)-SiC using the ATLAS accelerator facility at the Argonne National Laboratory. Ion beams with energies of 93 and 161 MeV were used to achieve deposition with peak concentrations at depths of approximately 9 and 13 (micro)m, respectively. As-implanted samples were then annealed at 1500 C for 210 or 480 hours. XPS, SEM, TEM, STEM, and optical methods were used to analyze the material before and after annealing. Silver concentration profiles were determined using XPS before and after annealing. STEM and SEM equipped with quantitative chemical analysis capability were used to more fully characterize the location and morphology of the silver before and after annealing. The results show that, within the uncertainty of measurement techniques, there is no silver migration, via either inter- or intragrannular paths, for the times and temperature studied. Additionally, the silver was observed to phase separate within the SiC after annealing. The irradiation damage from the implantation process resulted in a three-layer morphology in the as-implanted condition: (1) a layer of unaltered SiC, followed by (2) a layer of crystallized SiC, followed by (3) an amorphized layer which contained essentially all of the implanted silver. After annealing the layer structure changed. Layer 1 was unaltered. The grains in layer 2 recrystallized to form an epitaxial (columnar) layer. Layer 3 recrystallized to form a fine grain equiaxed layer. The results of this work do not support the long held assumption that silver release from CVD SiC, used for gas-reactor coated particle fuel, is dominated by grain boundary diffusion.
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