ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Lattice strain and irradiation damage mapping in proton irradiated nuclear graphite

Abstract: Nuclear-grade synthetic polycrystalline graphite materials serve as the primary choice of target material at leading proton accelerator facilities around the world. The ability of nuclear graphite to withstand thermo-mechanical loading and irradiation damage, and therefore its damage tolerance capability under these extreme working conditions, remains critical to study for the design and optimisation of next-generation target systems. The fracture and failure of target graphite material, resulting from differential bulk dimensional swelling and thermo-mechanical stress/strain gradients within these materials, necessitate the investigation of crystal lattice strain distribution and irradiation damage levels across the proton beam irradiation profile to understand the cracking and failure processes. In this proposal, we aim to conduct time-of-flight neutron diffraction mapping across damage gradients in ex-service fine-grained nuclear graphite fins, POCO ZXF-5Q, extracted from the NuMI beamline at US Fermilab. The understanding established from diffraction mapping such as crystal lattice dimensional change and amorphisation process, will be further correlated with other state-of-the-art experimental studies that have been conducted by our group to comprehend the failure and irradiation damage mechanisms in these critical materials.

Principal Investigator: Professor Dong Liu
Experimenter: Dr Ming Jiang
Experimenter: Dr Chris Densham
Local Contact: Dr Joe Kelleher
Experimenter: Mr Andreas Iakovidis
Experimenter: Mr Shaimerden Kuanganov
Experimenter: Miss Sophia Beatriz Carpio
Experimenter: Mr Gustavo Antonius Hettich

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520096

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2520096

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
Select the data format above to find out more about it.

Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Professor Dong Liu et al; (2026): Lattice strain and irradiation damage mapping in proton irradiated nuclear graphite, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520096

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.