The effects of radiation damage and annealing on the microstructure of a natural zircon observed by TDPAC

Abstract

The hyperfine interaction of a natural brazilian zircon sand was determined at zirconium sites between room temperature and 1393K by means of the time-differential perturbed-angular-correlations technique. Complementary measurements of x-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis and density were also performed. It was found that the starting compound was an intermediate zircon of 4.62 g/cm³ density consisting of a mixture of slightly disordered and highly defectuous materials in a ratio quite different from that determined for non brazilian zircons self irradiated by the same α-dose. Heating the sample resulted in the gradual recovery of the periodic crystalline structure in a two-stage process characterized by activation energies of 3.88 and 4.68 eV. An additional zirconium compound, for which an interpretation is proposed, was observed to be present in a low and nearly constant proportion up to 1393K, temperature at which it evidenced a reduction. A final measurement at RT revealed that this last change, as well as the second annealing stage, were of reversible nature.

Key words:

• zircon
• natural damage
• thermal recovery
• multi-stage processes
• TDPAC technique