Composition of Stainless Steel by Auger Electron Spectroscopy

School Name

Governor's School for Science & Mathematics

Grade Level

12th Grade

Presentation Topic

Physics

Presentation Type

Mentored

Mentor

Mentor: Chad Sosolik, Clemson University

Abstract

Many people today rely on nuclear energy, and a major component of working with this involves dealing with materials that undergo nuclear decay. This makes it increasingly important to be able to contain radioactive emission particles reliably. For any object being exposed to emission particles, given enough time it will develop microscopic cracks on its surface, and the material will degrade. This makes it difficult to work with radioactive materials because infrastructure must be replaced often. The Savanna River National Lab (SRNL) wishes to develop a material that can resist this degradation longer than any current material. To do this, they’re preparing samples of stainless steel differently, then sending them to Clemson University’s Kinard Laboratory in order to have the composition tested. This testing is done by Auger Electron Spectroscopy, a method of determining the elemental make-up of a substance which relies on the Auger Effect. One sample in this experiment saw a significant decrease in the composition of carbon (approximately 90%), while it saw a small increase in the carbon and iron as the depth increased. Future work would examine identical samples exposed to decay particles to test their resolve.

Location

Wall 307

Start Date

3-25-2017 8:45 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

Group Project

No

COinS
 
Mar 25th, 8:45 AM

Composition of Stainless Steel by Auger Electron Spectroscopy

Wall 307

Many people today rely on nuclear energy, and a major component of working with this involves dealing with materials that undergo nuclear decay. This makes it increasingly important to be able to contain radioactive emission particles reliably. For any object being exposed to emission particles, given enough time it will develop microscopic cracks on its surface, and the material will degrade. This makes it difficult to work with radioactive materials because infrastructure must be replaced often. The Savanna River National Lab (SRNL) wishes to develop a material that can resist this degradation longer than any current material. To do this, they’re preparing samples of stainless steel differently, then sending them to Clemson University’s Kinard Laboratory in order to have the composition tested. This testing is done by Auger Electron Spectroscopy, a method of determining the elemental make-up of a substance which relies on the Auger Effect. One sample in this experiment saw a significant decrease in the composition of carbon (approximately 90%), while it saw a small increase in the carbon and iron as the depth increased. Future work would examine identical samples exposed to decay particles to test their resolve.