Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
In the context of research on new materials for next generation nuclear reactors, it becomes more and more interesting to know what can be the advantages of nanostructured materials for such applications. In this study, we performed irradiation experiments on microstructured and nanostructured â-SiC samples, with 95 MeV Xe and 4 MeV Au ions. The structure of the samples was characterized before and after irradiation by grazing incidence X ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The results showed the occurrence of a synergy between electronic and nuclear energy loss in both samples with 95 MeV Xe ions, while the nanostructured pellet was found to have a better resistance to the irradiation with 4 MeV Au ions.