Probing the effect of radiation damage on the structure of rare-earth phosphates
Date
2015
Authors
Rafiuddin, Mohamed Ruwaid
Grosvenor, Andrew
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
ORCID
Type
Article
Degree Level
Abstract
Synthetic analogues of naturally occurring monazite (REPO4; RE = La to Gd) and xenotime (RE0PO4; RE0 = Tb to Lu and Y) minerals have been identified as potential wasteforms for nuclear waste. High energy ion-implantation of crystalline materials simulates radiation-induced structural damage and allows for the radiation resistance of a crystal structure to be probed. The structural stability of Au ion- implanted La1-xYbxPO4 materials was investigated using micro-X-ray diffraction (m-XRD) and glancing angle X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (GA-XANES) in this study. The long- and short-range order of La1-xYbxPO4 (x = 0, 0.3, 0.7, 1.0) is affected by ion-implantation and, thus, the materials are prone to structural damage. The structures of some members of the La1-xYbxPO4 series (x = 0.7 and 1.0) were observed to partially recover after being implanted with Au ions to a high dose. The structures of all members of the La1-xYbxPO4 series were observed to recover from damage resulting from ion- implantation after annealing the materials at temperatures >300 C.
Description
Keywords
Monazite, Xenotime, Radiation-induced structural damage, Wasteform, Glancing angle XANES, Micro-XRD
Citation
Journal of Alloys and Compounds 653 (2015) 279-289