Journal
JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN CERAMIC SOCIETY
Volume 34, Issue 7, Pages 1791-1801Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2014.01.018
Keywords
Uranium dioxide; Microstructure; Spark plasma sintering; Thermal conductivity; Stoichiometry
Categories
Funding
- DOE Office of Nuclear Energy University Programs
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High density uranium dioxide (UO2) pellets with grain sizes between 0.9 mu m and 9 mu m were produced by spark plasma sintering (SPS). A systematic study was performed by varying the sintering temperature between 750 degrees C and 1450 degrees C and hold time between 0.5 min and 20 min to obtain UO2 pellets with a range of theoretical densities (TD) and grain sizes. The microstructure development in terms of grain size, density and porosity distribution was investigated. The oxygen/uranium (O/U) ratio of the resulting pellets was found to decrease after SPS. The thermal conductivity of UO2 pellets increased with the theoretical density but the grain size in the investigated range had no significant influence. The measured thermal conductivity values up to 900 degrees C were consistent with the reported literature for conventionally sintered UO2 pellets. The benefits of using SPS over the conventional sintering of UO2 are summarized. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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