Feeling defects in Zircaloy by extended X-ray absorption fine structure and muon spin relaxation analyses

The defects generated by plastic deformation of Zircaloy by cold rolling and the resulting sub-nanoscopic environment are investigated using results provided by extended X-ray fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy and muon spin relaxation (MuSR) analysis. EXAFS allows to visualizing the atomic environment as a function of the induced strain. The defects are deduced from the next neighbour number determined shell per shell by the EXAFS analysis. An additional dimension is added with the study of muon properties in the material, namely the possibility of examining different states of the defect centres over the sub-nanometric scale. Muon spin relaxation analysis provides information about the local order around the muon and about possible muon diffusion in the material. Combining these techniques allows to completing the complex picture yields by the defect creation yielded by plastic deformation due to cold rolling in Zircaloy. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.