Radiation-induced short-range order in ceramics

The development of radiation tolerant materials is of technological importance for establishing safe operating systems in the nuclear industry, from power generation to the immobilization of high-level radioactive waste. Harsh radiation environments generate interstitials and vacancies in materials, and their accumulation leads to structural changes, including order-to-disorder phase transformations and amorphization. These structural changes are induced locally on an atomic scale; therefore, transmission electron microscopy is a useful technique for analyzing radiation effects in materials. In addition, the strong interaction between matter and electrons enables the detection of weak signals associated with phase transformations, such as diffuse scattering and halo rings. This article provides an overview of radiation-induced amorphous structures in materials consisting of light elements, such as boron carbide and silicon oxycarbide, as well as the short-range ordered structure that appears during an order-to-disorder phase transformation in fluorite structural derivatives.