Abstract
Silicon carbide is used as a passive post-irradiation temperature monitor because the irradiation defects
will anneal out above the irradiation temperature. The irradiation temperature is determined by measuring
a property change after isochronal annealing, i.e., lattice spacing, dimensions, electrical resistivity,
thermal diffusivity, or bulk density. However, such methods are time-consuming since the steps involved
must be performed in a serial manner. This work presents the use of thermal expansion from continuous
dilatometry to calculate the SiC irradiation temperature, which is an automated process requiring minimal
setup time. Analysis software was written that performs the calculations to obtain the irradiation
temperature and removes possible user-introduced error while standardizing the analysis. This method
has been compared to an electrical resistivity and isochronal annealing investigation, and the results
revealed agreement of the calculated temperatures. These results show that dilatometry is a reliable
and less time-intensive process for determining irradiation temperature from passive SiC thermometry.
