Announcements

• First lecture: Saturday, January 20, 2007, 8:30AM - 4:00PM at the Skills Training Centre in the Lecture Theatre. Classroom 1-2.
• The 2005 version of this course is maintained for archival and reference purposes.
• The Skills Training Centre is located at 1610 Champlain Avenue, Whitby, Ontario. See Durham College map and driving directions . The Skills Training Centre is identified as (3) on the map. See the first floor building layout (pdf 198kb).
• Be sure to read about the Academic Integrity Policy.

Course Description:

A nuclear reactor presents a unique environment in which materials must perform. In addition to the high temperatures and stresses to which materials are subjected in conventional applications, nuclear materials are subjected to various kinds of radiation which affect their performance, and often this dictates a requirement for a unique property (for example, a low cross section for thermal neutron absorption) that is not relevant in conventional applications. The effects of the radiation may be direct (e.g., the displacement of atoms from their normal positions by fast neutrons or fission fragments), or indirect (e.g., a more aggressive chemical environment caused by radiolytic decomposition). This course describes materials typically used in nuclear environments, the unique conditions to which they are subjected, the basic physical phenomena that affect their performance and the resulting design criteria for reactor components made from these materials.

Prerequisite: Registration in the UNENE Joint M. Eng. Program
Lecturers: Rick Holt and Mark Daymond

Course Administration

• Course Outline (pdf 8kb)
• Schedule
  • Session 1 - Saturday, January 20 / Sunday, January 21, 2007
  • Session 2 - Friday, February 3 / Saturday, February 4, 2007
  • Saturday, February 17 / Sunday, February 18, 2007
  • Saturday, March 3 / Sunday, March 4, 2007

Course Notes

• [These course notes are password protected. You will need to register in the course and contact the instructor to receive the password.]
• Session 1 - Introduction and Review of Physical Metallurgy - Saturday, January 20 / Sunday, January 21, 2007
  • Day 1
    • Lecture 1 – Introduction (pdf 844kb) as of 2007.02.07
    • Lecture 2 – Crystallography and Point Defects (pdf 501kb) as of 2007.02.07
    • Lecture 3 – Dislocations and Boundaries (pdf 1.62Mb) as of 2007.02.07
    • Lecture 4 – Plastic Instability and Fracture (pdf 1.01Mb) as of 2007.02.07
  • Day 2
    • Lecture 5 – Texture, Plasticity and Plastic Anisotropy (pdf 589kb) as of 2007.02.07
    • Lecture 6 – Creep and Fatigue (pdf 1.46Mb) as of 2007.02.07
    • Lecture 7 – Residual Stress (pdf 1.29Mb) as of 2007.02.07
• Session 2 – Reactors and Radiation Effects - Friday, February 3 / Saturday, February 4, 2007
  • Day 3
    • Lecture 8 – Physics of Nuclear Reactors (pdf 756kb) as of 2007.02.07
    • Lecture 9 – Power Reactor Design 1, Reactor Systems (pdf 1.15Mb) as of 2007.02.07
    • Lecture 10 – Power Reactor Design 2, Safety of CANDU (pdf 2.29Mb) as of 2007.02.07
    • Discussion of Assignments
  • Day 4
    • Lecture 11 – Radiation Effects (pdf 891kb) as of 2007.02.07
  • Lecture 12 – Evolution of Microstructure and Microchemistry (pdf 1.06Mb) as of 2007.02.07
  • Lecture 13 – Radiation Induced Deformation 1, without applied stress (pdf 1.09Mb) as of 2007.02.07
  • Lecture 14 – Radiation Induced Deformation 2, with applied stress (pdf 710kb) as of 2007.02.07
• Session 3 – Fuel Channels - Saturday, February 17 / Sunday, February 18, 2007
  • Day 5
    • Lecture 15 – Technology of CANDU Pressure Tubes (pdf 1.68Mb) as of 2007.02.19
    • Lecture 16 – Physical Metallurgy of Pressure Tubes and Calandria Tubes (pdf 5.7Mb) as of 2007.02.19
    • Lecture 17 – Microstructure of Pressure Tubes (pdf 3.43Mb) as of 2007.02.19
    • Lecture 18 – Deformation of Pressure Tubes (pdf 4.48Mb) as of 2007.02.19
  • Day 6
    • Lecture 19 – Corrosion and Deuterium Ingress (pdf 350kb) as of 2007.02.19
    • Lecture 20 – Delayed Hydride Cracking and Fracture (pdf 4.63Mb) as of 2007.02.19
    • Lecture 21 – Calandria Tubes (pdf 4.05Mb) as of 2007.02.19
    • Discussion of Assignments
• Session 4 – CANDU Fuel, Post-Irradiation Examination and Out-Reactor Components - Saturday, March 3 / Sunday, March 4, 2007
  • Day 7
    • Lecture 22 – Design and Manufacture of Fuel (pdf 2.67Mb) as of 2007.03.07
    • Lecture 23 – Fuel Operation (pdf 2.08Mb) as of 2007.03.07
    • Lecture 24 – Fuel Performance (pdf 3.32Mb) as of 2007.03.07
    • Lecture 25 – Examination and Testing of Radioactive Components (pdf 1.76Mb) as of 2007.03.07
  • Day 8
  • Lecture 26 – CANDU Feeders (pdf 1.17Mb) as of 2007.03.07
  • Lecture 27 – Steam Generator Design and Degradation (pdf 1.09Mb) as of 2007.03.07
  • Lecture 28 – Mitigation of Steam Generator Degradation (pdf 0.99Mb) as of 2007.03.07
  • Discussion of Assignments

Course Assignments

• Assignment 1 (pdf 54kb)
• Assignment 2 (pdf 20kb)
• Assignment 3 (doc 39kb)
• Assignment 4 (pdf 15kb)

Class Recordings

[These recordings of the actual class are password protected. You will need to register in the course and contact the instructor to receive the password.]

Learning Resources

• DoITPoMS Teaching and Learning Packages - Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge. In particular see Particularly the headings:
  • Atomic Structure - Atomic Scale Structure
  • Atomic Structure - Lattice Planes
  • Atomic Structure - Solid Solutions
  • Atomic Structure - Introduction to Dislocations
  • Atomic Structure - Introduction to Anisotropy
  • Mechanical Behaviour - Slip in Single Crystals
  • Mechanical Behabiour - Fracture of Glass
  • For later in the course, the following may be useful : Techniques for Studying - X-ray Diffraction
• In terms of general materials text books that you might want to borrow from the library or get hold of 2nd hand, I would suggest:
  • Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering Materials, R.W. Hertzberg , pub. John Wiley & Sons (1995). ISBN# 0471012149.
  • Mechanical Metallurgy, G.E. Dieter, pub. McGraw Hill, year depends on Edition (3rd is most recent I think).
• MIT Open Courseware - 3.11 Mechanics of Materials