1 July 2019 : Special Issue of Radiation Damage in Materials Helium Effects

Dear Colleagues,

Understanding radiation damage effects in materials, used in various irradiation environments, has been an ongoing challenge for several decades. The complexity stems from the fundamental particle–solid interactions involving both spatial and temporal length scales and the damage recovery dynamics after the collision cascades. Adding to this complexity are the transmuted impurities that are unavoidable from accompanying nuclear processes, such as (neutron, alpha) reactions and their interactions with both intrinsic and extrinsic defects through damage recovery and defects evolution processes.

Helium is one such impurity that plays an important and unique role in controlling the microstructure and properties of materials due to its virtually zero solubility in any material systems. The ultra-low solubility forces He atoms self-precipitate into small He bubbles that become nucleation sites for further voids growth under radiation induced vacancy supersaturations, resulting in material swelling and high temperature He embrittlement, as well as surface blistering under low energy and high flux He bombardment.

This Special Issue, “Radiation Damage in Materials—Helium Effects”, invites review articles and full length papers on new irradiation material research activities and novel material ideas that focus on understanding He effects on microstructure evolution and thermo-mechanical properties using experimental and/or modeling approaches, where material systems include, but are not limited to, advanced structural steels for fast fission and fusion applications, and plasma facing materials, such as tungsten in fusion devices. Research related to self-irradiation damage by energetic alpha emissions in actinides, as well as in advanced nuclear waste materials, are also encouraged.

Dr. Yongqiang Wang
Dr. Khalid Hattar
Guest Editors


Submission steps:

1. Register via our system https://susy.mdpi.com/ and login;

2. Click "Submit to Special Issue" at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials/special_issues/Radiation-Damage

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