Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the influence of the processes of radiation-induced damage formation in
the form of point defects, dislocations and vacancies, as well as their accumulation and the formation of locally
disordered regions in the near-surface layer of zirconia ceramics under irradiation with heavy Xe22+ ions with an
energy of 230 MeV, on the change in the thermophysical properties of ceramics. The choice of the ion type for
irradiation is due to the possibilities of modeling radiation damage processes comparable to the impact of
uranium nuclei fission fragments during nuclear reactions in nuclear fuel. The choice of materials for irradiation
in the form of ZrO2 ceramics is due to the prospects for their use as the main material for inert matrices of
dispersed nuclear fuel for new generation reactors. This choice is due to the physicochemical, thermophysical and
strength properties of ZrO2 ceramics, which are more resistant than other types of oxide ceramics. During
research, it was found that the formation of isolated locally heterogeneous regions at low irradiation fluences
does not lead to significant changes in the thermophysical properties of the damaged ceramic layer. However,
polymorphic transformations of the t-ZrO2 → c-ZrO2 type, which occur at irradiation fluences above 1012 ion/cm2
,
lead to a decrease in thermal conductivity and the appearance of heat losses associated with the disruption of the
phonon heat transfer mechanisms in the damaged layer.
