David Sprouster

Profile Information
Name
Professor David Sprouster
Institution
Stony Brook University
Position
Assistant Research Professor
Affiliation
Stony Brook University
h-Index
24
ORCID
0000-0002-2689-0721
Biography

X-ray diffraction (XRD)

X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS)

Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)

Ion implantation

Radiation damage in semiconductors, metals and ceramics

Expertise
Ceramics, Ferritic/Martensitic (F/M) Steels, Instrumentation, Irradiation, Material Characterization, Metallurgy, Nanoanalysis, Oxide Dispersion-Strengthened Alloy (ODS), Radiation Damage, Reactor Pressure Vessel, Synchrotron
Publications:
"Advanced synchrotron characterization techniques for fusion materials science" David Sprouster, J Trelewicz, Lance Snead, Daniel Morrall, Takaaki Koyanagi, X Hu, Chad Parish, Lizhen Tan, Yutai Katoh, Brian Wirth, Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 543 2020 152574 Link
"Analysis Techniques for Large Data sets from the National Synchrotron Light Source-II" David Sprouster, Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 118 2018 1627 Link
"Effect of stoichiometry on the evolution of thermally annealed long-range ordering in Ni-Cr alloys" David Sprouster, Fei Teng, George Young, Jia-Hong Ke, Julie Tucker, Materialia Vol. 8 2019 100453 Link
Ni-based alloys, such as alloys 690 and 625, are widely used in the nuclear industry as structural components, because of their desirable mechanical properties and resistance to stress corrosion cracking. However, in some high chromium alloys, a disorder-order phase transformation near 33 at.% Cr, is known to decrease ductility and fracture toughness. In this study, the ordering transformation is investigated in Ni-Cr binary model alloys to better understand the effects of composition. Model alloys with different stoichiometries (Ni/Cr = 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4) were isothermally aged up to 10,000 h at three temperatures (373°C, 418°C, and 475°C) and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), microhardness, and synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction (XRD). TEM results show the evolution of the Ni2Cr (MoPt2-type) ordered precipitates between 3,000 h and 10,000 h with corresponding size of ∼10 nm to 20 nm. Microhardness testing results show that off-stoichiometry (Ni/Cr ≠ 2.0) alloys exhibit a smaller change with ordering compared to the stoichiometric (Ni/Cr = 2.0) alloy at all temperatures. XRD quantifies ordering induced lattice contraction in the matrix structure and the size of the ordered precipitates. No BCC Cr was detected by XRD or TEM during characterization in the range of 29.83 to 35.66 at.% Cr after 10,000 h of aging, confirming that all of the hardening can be attributed to the development of Ni2Cr in alloys ranging from Ni/Cr of 1.8 to Ni/Cr of 2.4.
"Formation of tetragonal gas bubble superlattice in bulk molybdenum under helium ion implantation" Cheng Sun, David Sprouster, Khalid Hattar, Lynne Ecker, Lingfeng He, Y. Gao, Yipeng Gao, Yongfeng Zhang, Jian Gan, Scripta Materialia Vol. 149 2018 26-30 Link
We report the formation of tetragonal gas bubble superlattice in bulk molybdenum under helium ion implantation at 573 K. The transmission electron microscopy study shows that the helium bubble lattice constant measured from the in-plane d-spacing is ~4.5 nm, while it is ~3.9 nm from the out-of-plane measurement. The results of synchrotron-based small-angle x-ray scattering agree well with the transmission electron microscopy results in terms of the measurement of bubble lattice constant and bubble size. The coupling of transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron high-energy X-ray scattering provides an effective approach to study defect superlattices in irradiated materials.
"In situ X-ray characterization of uranium dioxide during flash sintering" David Sprouster, Materialia Vol. 2018 1-7 Link
"Infrastructure development for radioactive materials at the NSLS-II" Eric Dooryhee, Lynne Ecker, G. Robert Odette, David Sprouster, Peter Wells, Randy Weidner, Sanjit Ghose, Theodore Novakowski, Tiberiu Stan, Nathan Almirall, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors, and Associated Equipment Vol. 880 2018 40-45 Link
The X-ray Powder Diffraction (XPD) Beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source-II is a multipurpose instrument designed for high-resolution, high-energy X-ray scattering techniques. In this article, the capabilities, opportunities and recent developments in the characterization of radioactive materials at XPD are described. The overarching goal of this work is to provide researchers access to advanced synchrotron techniques suited to the structural characterization of materials for advanced nuclear energy systems. XPD is a new beamline providing high photon flux for X-ray Diffraction, Pair Distribution Function analysis and Small Angle X-ray Scattering. The infrastructure and software described here extend the existing capabilities at XPD to accommodate radioactive materials. Such techniques will contribute crucial information to the characterization and quantification of advanced materials for nuclear energy applications. We describe the automated radioactive sample collection capabilities and recent X-ray Diffraction and Small Angle X-ray Scattering results from neutron irradiated reactor pressure vessel steels and oxide dispersion strengthened steels.
"In-pile tensile creep of chemical vapor deposited silicon carbide at 300C" David Sprouster, Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 521 2019 63-70 Link
Irradiation-induced creep is one of the key material properties considered in designing structural components for nuclear reactors. This paper presents results for in situ irradiation-induced creep of chemical vapor deposited 3C silicon carbide studied by instrumented irradiation in the Halden reactor in Norway. The specimens examined were irradiated at 300C and up to 2.5x10^(24)n/m^2(E>0.1 MeV)under uniaxial tensile stress of<5 or 100 MPa. Irradiation-induced creep strain was defined as the differential time-dependent strain between the two specimens. Based on the dimensional inspections before and after irradiation, an axial primary creep strain of 0.06% was obtained at the end of irradiation.The lattice constant precisely determined from high-energy x-ray diffraction analysis showed a lattice expansion roughly accounting for the primary irradiation creep strain. Analysis of data from this and previous studies indicates that creep strain is significantly dependent on at least one of the experimental conditions, such as loading mode, neutron spectrum/flux, and material grade.
"Irradiation-Dependent Helium Gas Bubble Superlattice in Tungsten" David Sprouster, Scientific Reports Vol. 9 2019 2277 Link
The implantation of noble gas atoms into metals at high gas concentrations can lead to the self-organization of nanobubbles into superlattices with symmetry similar to the metal host matrix. Here, we examine the influence of implantation parameters on the formation and structure of helium gas bubble superlattices within a tungsten host matrix to uncover mechanistic insight into the formation process. The determination of the size and symmetry of the gas bubbles was performed using a combination of small angle x-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The former was demonstrated to be particularly useful in determining size and structure of the gas bubble superlattice as a function of irradiation conditions. Prior to the formation of a superlattice, we observe a persistent substructure characterized by inter-bubble spacings similar to those observable when the gas bubble superlattice has formed with very large ordering parameters. As the implantation fluence increases, the inter-bubble ordering parameter decreases, indicating improved ordering, until a superlattice is formed. Multiple implantation-specific differences were observed, including a temperature-dependent superlattice parameter that increases with increasing temperature and a flux-dependent superlattice parameter that decreases with increasing flux. The trends quantified here are in excellent agreement with our recent theoretical predictions for gas bubble superlattice formation and highlight that superlattice formation is strongly dependent on the diffusion of vacancy and implanted He atoms.
"Microstructural evolution of neutron irradiated 3C-SiC" David Sprouster, Scripta Materialia Vol. 137 2017 132-136 Link
"Pair distribution function analysis of neutron-irradiated silicon carbide" David Sprouster, Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 527 2019 151798 Link
We have employed x-ray total scattering to investigate the structure of polycrystalline 3C-silicon carbide following neutron irradiation. The structure as a function of irradiation temperature and dose was quantified by analyzing pair distribution functions. Although the SiC matrix retains its crystal structure after irradiation, a significant increase in the diffuse scattering component is observable indicating that neutron irradiation leads to changes in both the short- and medium-range order. These changes include both an irradiation dose- and temperature-dependent increase in the vacancy concentration leading to an increase in the Si and C atomic displacement parameters. A dose-dependent decrease in the size of defect free material is also quantified from the structural refinements due to an increase in the number of defects and defect clusters. Evidence of additional correlations in the short-range order (up to ∼4 Å) from differential pair distribution function analysis indicate that combinations of atomistic defects including anti-site defects, vacancies and defect clusters are present after these irradiation conditions. Such structural information will be valuable for direct comparison of experimental and simulated atomic structures of irradiated silicon carbide.
"Structural characterization of nanoscale intermetallic precipitates in highly neutron irradiated reactor pressure vessel steels" David Sprouster, Eric Dooryhee, John Sinsheimer, Sanjit Ghose, Peter Wells, Nathan Almirall, G. Robert Odette, Lynne Ecker, Tiberiu Stan, Scripta Materialia Vol. 113 2016 18-22 Link
Massive, thick-walled pressure vessels are permanent nuclear reactor structures that are exposed to a damaging flux of neutrons from the adjacent core. The neutrons cause embrittlement of the vessel steel that grows with dose (fluence), as manifested by an increasing ductile-to-brittle fracture transition temperature. Extending reactor life requires demonstrating that large safety margins against brittle fracture are maintained at the higher neutron fluence associated with beyond 60 years of service. Here synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction and small angle x-ray scattering measurements are used to characterize highly embrittling nm-scale Mn–Ni–Si precipitates that develop in the irradiated steels at high fluence. These precipitates lead to severe embrittlement that is not accounted for in current regulatory models. Application of the complementary techniques has, for the very first time, successfully identified the crystal structures of the nanoprecipitates, while also yielding self-consistent compositions, volume fractions and size distributions.
"Tensile properties and microstructure of additively manufactured Grade 91 steel for nuclear applications" David Sprouster, Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 544 2020 152723 Link
"The formation and evolution of Ni2Cr precipitates in Ni–Cr model alloys as a function of stoichiometry characterized by synchrotron x-ray diffraction" David Sprouster, Julie Tucker, Materials Science and Engineering: A Vol. 877 2023 145162 Link
"The formation and evolution of Ni2Cr precipitates in Ni–Cr model alloys as a function of stoichiometry characterized by synchrotron x-ray diffraction" David Sprouster, Materials Science & Engineering Vol. 856 [unknown] 143930 Link
"Wigner Energy of SiC Irradiated to High Levels of Swelling (#16-652)" David Sprouster, Phys. Rev. Materials Vol. 5 2021 103601 Link
"X-ray characterization of anisotropic defect formation in SiC under irradiation with applied stress" David Sprouster, Takaaki Koyanagi, Lance Snead, Yutai Katoh, Scripta Materialia Vol. 197 2021 113785 Link
"X-ray characterization of anisotropic defect formation in SiC under irradiation with applied stress" David Sprouster, Takaaki Koyanagi, Lance Snead, Yutai Katoh, Scripta Materialia Vol. 197 2021 113785 Link
Presentations:
"Effect of Thermal And Irradiation-induced Long Range Ordering in Ni-Cr Model Alloys" Fei Teng, David Sprouster, Peter Hosemann, Li-Jen Yu, Emmanuelle Marquis, Julie Tucker, NuMat October 14-18, (2018)
"In Situ Experimental Capabilities and Results from the X-ray Powder Diffraction Beamline" Lynne Ecker, David Sprouster, 2017 ANS Annual Meeting [unknown]
"Irradiation-accelerated phase transformations for low-temperature phase diagram development" Julie Tucker, Fei Teng, Emmanuelle Marquis, David Sprouster, MRS November 25-30, (2018)
"Microstructural Investigations of Temperature Effects in Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels from the UCSB ATR-2 Irradiation" David Sprouster, TMS 2018 March 11-16, (2018) Link
"Recovery of irradiation-induced defects in SiC: A synchrotron diffraction/scattering study" David Sprouster, 44th International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC 2020) January 26-31, (2020) Link
"Self-Organization of Gas Bubble Superlattices" David Sprouster, TMS 2018 March 11-16, (2018) Link
"Theoretical Predictions, Atomistic Simulations and Experimental Observations of Void and Gas Bubble Superlattice Formation under Irradiation" David Sprouster, TMS 2019 March 10-14, (2019) Link
"Topological and atomic investigation of nuclear graphite using multi-scale x-ray scattering" David Sprouster, Lance Snead, Boris Khaykovich, Yutai Katoh, Anne Campbell, 45th International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC2021) February 8-11, (2021) Link