University of Huddersfield (UoH)

The University of Huddersfield (UoH) is a public research university located in the North of England, in the Pennine Hills of West Yorkshire. Established in 1825 as the Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute, it became a university in 1992 and today has around 20,000 students and 2,000 staff across five academic schools.

The School of Computing an Engineering is home to the Electron Microscopy and Materials Analysis (EMMA) Group led by Prof Jonathan Hinks. Specialising in the study of radiation damage in materials, EMMA operates the Microscopes and Ion Accelerators for Materials Investigations (MIAMI) facility, which combines a transmission electron microscope (TEM) with in situ ion irradiation. This allows the direct observation of the microstructural evolution of materials under conditions (high temperatures, irradiation) that are relevant to nuclear energy systems. The invaluable insights this can deliver are key to the development of a fundamental understanding of the behaviour of materials in these extreme environments, allowing the prediction of their in-service performance and facilitating their further engineering/tailoring for specific nuclear applications.

More specifically, the MIAMI-2 facility enables the in situ ion irradiation of thin (electron-transparent) samples in a Hitachi H-9500 TEM (60-300 kV accelerating voltage) equipped with a Gatan OneView digital camera with 16 megapixels and up to 300 fps video, and coupled with single or dual ion beams (most ion species from H to Au; 1-20 keV Colutron ion source for running inert gases such as H and He; 20-350 keV NEC ion source capable of running most species up to Au; the ion beam(s) forms an angle of 18.7° to the electron beam), whilst also adding analytical capabilities (i.e., Gatan EELS system – GIF Quantum SE & Bruker EDX system – Quantax 400 with XFlash 6T 60 detector EDX). MIAMI-2 is furnished with single-tilt and double-tilt holders that allow sample ion irradiation at high temperatures (RT to 1300°C for the single-tilt holder; RT to 1000°C for the double-tilt holder) and low temperatures (-173°C to 100°C for the double-tilt holder). Additional holders are used for specific applications (e.g., MEMS heating holder operating from RT to >800°C; special holder for in-situ sample straining; etc.).