Studies of material properties under irradiation at BNL Linear Isotope Producer (BLIP)

TL;DR

This paper reports on irradiation studies of various materials at BNL's Linac to assess their suitability for high-power accelerator targets, focusing on property changes, damage limits, and temperature effects.

Contribution

It provides new experimental data on material behavior under proton irradiation relevant to high-power accelerator applications.

Findings

Materials show property degradation under irradiation

Identified flux thresholds for material integrity

Temperature influences radiation damage reversal

Abstract

Effects of proton beams irradiating materials considered for targets in high-power accelerator experiments have been under study using the Brookhaven National Laboratory's (BNL) 200 MeV Linac. The primary objectives of the study that includes a wide array of materials and alloys ranging between low and high-Z are to (a) observe changes in physio-mechanical properties which are important in maintaining high-power target functionality, (b) identify possible limits of proton flux or fluence above which certain material seize to maintain integrity, (c) study the role of material operating temperature in inducing or maintaining radiation damage reversal, and (d) correlate radiation damage effects of different species such as energetic protons and neutrons on materials by utilizing reactor and particle accelerator experience data. These objectives are specifically being addressed in the latest material irradiation study linked to the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE). Observations on irradiation effects on materials considered for high-power targets and other beam intercepting elements, such as collimators, from past studies and preliminary observations of the ongoing LBNE study are presented in this paper.