An Annual Retrospective VIII

Materials in a nuclear environment are exposed to extreme conditions of radiation, temperature and/or corrosion, and in many cases the combination of these makes the material behavior very different from conventional materials. This is evident for the four major technological challenges the nuclear technology domain is facing currently: (i) long-term operation of existing Generation II nuclear power plants, (ii) the design of the next generation reactors (Generation IV), (iii) the construction of the ITER fusion reactor in Cadarache (France), (iv) and the intermediate and final disposal of nuclear waste. In order to address these challenges, engineers and designers need to know the properties of a wide variety of materials under these conditions and to understand the underlying processes affecting changes in their behavior, in order to assess their performance and to determine the limits of operation. Comprehensive Nuclear Materials, Second Edition, Seven Volume Set provides broad ranging, validated summaries of all the major topics in the field of nuclear material research for fission as well as fusion reactor systems. Attention is given to the fundamental scientific aspects of nuclear materials: fuel and structural materials for fission reactors, waste materials, and materials for fusion reactors. The articles are written at a level that allows undergraduate students to understand the material, while providing active researchers with a ready reference resource of information. Most of the chapters from the first Edition have been revised and updated and a significant number of new topics are covered in completely new material. During the ten years between the two editions, the challenge for applications of nuclear materials has been significantly impacted by world events, public awareness, and technological innovation. Materials play a key role as enablers of new technologies, and we trust that this new edition of Comprehensive Nuclear Materials has captured the key recent developments. Critically reviews the major classes and functions of materials, supporting the selection, assessment, validation and engineering of materials in extreme nuclear environments Comprehensive resource for up-to-date and authoritative information which is not always available elsewhere, even in journals Provides an in-depth treatment of materials modeling and simulation, with a specific focus on nuclear issues Serves as an excellent entry point for students and researchers new to the field

This book discusses the mechanical properties of ceramics and aims to provide both a solid background for undergraduate students, as well as serving as a text to bring practicing engineers up to date with the latest developments in this topic so they can use and apply these to their actual engineering work. Generally, ceramics are made by moistening a mixture of clays, casting it into desired shapes and then firing it to a high temperature, a process known as 'vitrification'. The relatively late development of metallurgy was contingent on the availability of ceramics and the know-how to mold them into the appropriate forms. Because of the characteristics of ceramics, they offer great advantages over metals in specific applications in which hardness, wear resistance and chemical stability at high temperatures are essential. Clearly, modern ceramics manufacturing has come a long way from the early clay-processing fabrication method, and the last two decades have seen the development of sophisticated techniques to produce a large variety of ceramic material. The chapters of this volume are ordered to help students with their laboratory experiments and guide their observations in parallel with lectures based on the current text. Thus, the first chapter is devoted to mechanical testing. A chapter of ductile and superplastic ceramic is added to emphasize their role in modern ceramics (chapter 2). These are followed by the theoretical basis of the subject. Various aspects of the mechanical properties are discussed in the following chapters, among them, strengthening mechanisms, time dependent and cyclic deformation of ceramics. Many practical illustrations are provided representing various observations encountered in actual ceramic-structures of particularly technical significance. A comprehensive list of references at the end of each chapter is included in this textbook to provide a broad basis for further studying the subject. The work also contains a unique chapter on a topic not discussed in other textbooks on ceramics concerning nanosized ceramics. This work will also be useful as a reference for materials scientists, not only to those who specialize in ceramics.