Study on the mechanical properties at high temperatures and relevant mechanism of beryllium oxide ceramics

XW Zhou and J Zhang and MD Hou and SC Zhang and KH Zhang and RZ Liu and B Liu and YP Tang and L Shi, JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, 611, 155813 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.155813

In recent years, beryllium oxide (BeO) ceramics have been reconsidered for application in micro nuclear reactors. The applications of BeO ceramics in micro nuclear reactors are mainly as neutron moderator, neutron reflector material or nuclear fuel pellet matrix material. When used in these reactors, BeO is often subjected to extreme environments. Therefore, it is necessary to master the high temperature mechanical properties of BeO. In this paper, the mechanical properties of BeO ceramics at high temperature were studied experimentally, which shows a trend that first increasing, then decreasing and at last increasing again. Besides, the corresponding mechanism was discussed and it was concluded that the glass phase between the grains of BeO is the key factor affecting its high temperature strength. The mechanism was verified by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. This paper is of great significance for the application of BeO ceramics.

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