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In this work, the effect of irradiation with heavy Kr15+ and Xe22+ ions on the change in the structural and strength properties of CeO2 microstructural ceramics, which is one of the candidates for inert matrix materials for dispersed nuclear fuel, is considered. Irradiation with heavy Kr15+ and Xe22+ ions was chosen to determine the possibility of simulation of radiation damage comparable to the action of fission fragments, as well as neutron radiation, considering damage accumulation at a given depth of the near-surface layer. During the research, it was found that the main changes in the structural properties with an increase in the irradiation fluence are associated with the crystal lattice deformation distortions and the consequent radiation damage accumulation in the surface layer, and its swelling. Evaluation of the effect of gaseous swelling caused by the radiation damage accumulation showed that a variation in the ion type during irradiation results in a growth in the value of swelling and destruction of the near-surface layer with the accumulation of deformation distortions. Results of the strength variation demonstrated that the most intense decrease in the near-surface layer hardness is observed when the fluence reaches more than 1013–1014 ion/cm2, which is typical for the effect of overlapping radiation damage in the material.

This paper presents the results of a study on the influence of Y2O3 doping on the resistance to radiation damage and an assessment of structural changes associated with the accumulation of radiation defects in CeO2 microparticles under irradiation with heavy Xe22+ ions. The relevance of this study consists of the prospects for the use of CeO2 microparticles as materials and candidates of inert matrices of nuclear fuel. A method of solid-phase synthesis was applied to obtain microparticles with different concentrations of dopant. It included grinding of CeO2 and Y2O3 microparticles followed by thermal sintering at 1100 °C in an oxygen-containing medium to produce highly ordered microparticles. During the study of the structural characteristics of the synthesized microparticles, it was found that increasing the dopant concentration from 0.05 mol.% to 0.15 mol.% leads to an increase in the crystallinity degree as well as a decrease in dislocation density. According to the results of the assessment of the resistance of microparticles to radiation damage, it was found that an increase in the dopant concentration leads to a decrease in swelling and structural distortion by more than 2.5–3 times, which indicates an increase in the radiation resistance.