Application of SPS in the fabrication of UN and (U,Th)N pellets from microspheres
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2020

In this study, the process involved in the fabrication of a potential accident tolerant fuel is described. Homogeneous uranium nitride microspheres doped with different thorium content were successfully manufactured using an internal gelation process followed by carbothermic reduction, and nitridation. Elemental analysis of the materials showed low carbon and oxygen content, the two major impurities found in the products of carbothermic reduction. Uranium nitride microspheres were pressed and sintered using spark plasma sintering (SPS) to produce pellets with variable density. Final density can be tailored by choosing the sintering temperature, pressure and time. Density values of 77–98% of theoretical density (%TD) were found. As expected, higher temperatures and pressures resulted in a denser material. Furthermore, a direct correlation between the onset sintering temperature and thorium content in the materials was observed. The change of onset temperature has been related to an increment in the activation energy for self-diffusion due to the substitution of uranium atoms by thorium in the crystal structure.

SPS

Theoretical density

Porosity

Doping

Microspheres

Internal gelation

Sintering

Uranium nitride

Författare

Luis Guillermo Gonzalez Fonseca

Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Energi och material

Marcus Hedberg

Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Energi och material

L. Huan

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH)

P. Olsson

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH)

Teodora Retegan Vollmer

Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Energi och material

Journal of Nuclear Materials

0022-3115 (ISSN)

Vol. 536 152181

Ämneskategorier

Keramteknik

Materialkemi

Den kondenserade materiens fysik

DOI

10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.152181

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2020-06-03