Crystal structure of gamma plutonium

Technical Report · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1951

OSTI ID:166913

Zachariasen, W H

The crystal structure is known for only two of the five allotropic forms of plutonium metal. The delta modification is cubic face-centered with a = 4.63 A (at 350 deg C), and the epsilon form is cubic body-centered with a = 3.63 A (at 5l0 deg C). Satisfactory X-ray diffraction patterns of the alpha, beta and gamma forms of plutonium have been available for several years. However, the indexing of these powder patterns has proved to be a very difficult task. The indexing of the pattern of gamma plutonium given in this report succeeded only after a great many hours of intensive work. The patterns of alpha and beta plutonium have not yet been interpreted. Table 1 gives the observed intensities and sine squares as obtained from a powder diffraction pattern of gamma plutonium taken with CuK alpha-radiation at 226 deg C. The alpha sub 1 alpha sub 2 - doublet is separated for sine squared theta > 0.400, and the measurements refer to the stronger component.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos Scientific Lab., NM (United States)
• OSTI ID: 166913
• Report Number(s): AD-A--297828/6/XAB; LA--1325; CNN: Contract W-7405-ENG-36
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
PLUTONIUM-GAMMA
POWDERS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION