The effect of low temperature neutron irradiation and annealing on the thermal conductivity of advanced carbon-based materials

Abstract Several carbon-based materials (carbon fibre composites NB 31, NS 31 and UAM-92, doped graphite RGTi-91), were irradiated at about 90 °C in the damage dose range 0.0021–0.13 dpa. Significant reduction of the thermal conductivity of all materials was observed (e.g. at damage dose of ∼0.13 dpa the thermal conductivity degraded up to level of ∼2–3% of the initial values). However, saturation of this effect was observed starting at a dose of ∼0.06 dpa. The effect of annealing at 250 and 350 °C on the recovery of thermal conductivity of NB 31 and NS 31 was studied and it was shown this annealing can significantly improve thermal conductivity (∼2.5–3 times). The data on the degradation of the thermal conductivity after additional irradiation after annealing is also reported.