UN0901 - Nuclear Material
(2011 version)

Announcements

• Offered January 8 - February 20, 2011.
• Location: Lecture Theatre, Durham College - Whitby Campus, 1610 Champlain Avenue, Whitby. See Campus Maps.

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 for 2011 (pdf 36kb)
• Schedule
  • Session 1 - Saturday, January 8 / Sunday, January 9, 2011
  • Session 2 - Saturday, January 22 / Sunday, January 23, 2011
  • Session 3 - Saturday, February 5 / Sunday, February 6, 2011
  • Session 4 - Saturday, February 19 / Sunday, February 20, 2011

Course Notes

• [These course notes are password protected. You will need to register in the course and contact the instructor to receive the password. The username is un901]
• Session 1 - Introduction and Review of Physical Metallurgy
  • Day 1 Daymond
    • Lecture 1 - Introduction (pdf 1.3Mb)
    • Lecture 2 - Crystallography and Point Defects (pdf 1.6Mb)
    • Lecture 3 - Dislocations and Boundaries (pdf 4.3Mb)
    • Lecture 4 - Plastic Instability and Fracture (pdf 3.0Mb)
  • Day 2 Daymond
    • Lecture 5 - Texture-Plasticity-Plastic Anisotropy (pdf 1.1Mb)
    • Lecture 6 - Creep and Fatigue (pdf 1.0Mb)
    • Lecture 7 - Residual Stress (pdf 2.7b)
    • Lecture 8 - Phase Diagrams (pdf 750kb)
• Session 2 – Reactors and Radiation Effects
  • Day 3 Holt
    • Lecture 9 – Physics of Nuclear Reactors (pdf 2.6Mb)
    • Lecture 10 – Power Reactor Design (pdf 2.5Mb)
    • Lecture 11 – Radiation Effects (pdf 2.6Mb)
    • Tutorial
  • Day 4 Holt
    • Lecture 12 – Evolution of Microstructure and Microchemistry (pdf 6.0Mb)
  • Lecture 13 - Irradiation Induced Deformation - 1 (pdf 3.2Mb)
  • Lecture 14 - Irradiation Induced Deformation - 2 (pdf 3.4Mb)
  • Lecture 15 - Technology of CANDU Pressure Tubes (pdf 1.4Mb)
• Session 3 – Fuel Channels
  • Day 5 Holt
    • Lecture 16 - Metallurgy of Pressure Tubes and Calandria Tube (pdf 6.1Mb)
    • Lecture 17 - Microstructure of Pressure Tubes (pdf 5.6Mb)
    • Lecture 18 - Deformation of Pressure Tubes (pdf 3.4Mb)
    • Lecture 19 - Corrosion and Deuterium Ingress (pdf 713kb)
  • Day 6 Holt
    • Lecture 20 - Delayed Hydride Cracking and Fracture (pdf 4.5Mb)
    • Lecture 21– Calandria Tubes (pdf 3.5Mb)
    • Tutorial
• Session 4 – CANDU Fuel and Post-Irradiation Examination
  • Day 7 Daymond
    • Lecture 22 - Fuel Design and Manufacturing (pdf 3.4Mb)
    • Lecture 23 – Fuel Operation (pdf 2.2Mb)
    • Lecture 24 – Fuel Performance (pdf 3.3Mb)
    • Lecture 25 - Post-Irradiation Examination (pdf 2.6Mb)
• Session 5 – CANDU Out-Reactor Components
  • Day 8 Daymond
    • Lecture 26 – CANDU Feeders (pdf 1.3Mb)
    • Lecture 27 - Steam Generator (pdf 1.2Mb)
    • Lecture 28 – Mitigation of Steam Generator Degradation (pdf 924kb)
    • Tutorial

Course Assignments

• Assignment 1 (doc 185kb)
• Assignment 2 (pdf 17kb)
• Assignment 3 (pdf 14kb) - 2009 version, subject to change
• Assignment 4 (pdf 9kb) - 2009 version, subject to change

Class Recordings

These are audio and screen capture of the actual classes. BBFlashback was used to create a self standing executable. Just down load and run. Use the View command on the toolbar to adjust the movie screen size. File sizes are large but that is the best we can do at the moment. [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. The username is un901]

• to come

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