ALLOYS OF ALUMINUM, THORIUM AND URANIUM

Technical Report · Sat Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1956

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4311828· OSTI ID:4311828

Bobeck, G E; Wilhelm, H A

The Al-rich corner of the ternary alloy system Al-- Th-U has been investigated by thermal and microscopic The creep properties of annealed Zircaloy- 2, Zircaloy3, and 15% cold-worked Zircaloy-2 at elevated temperatures were determined. The metallurgical bond formed between electropolished U and Zr cladding by hydrostatic pressing is being evaluated. Oxidation data are given for Nb and Nb alloys in dry air at various temperatures. A study of the phase relationships which occur between the please delete the above abstract===================== analyses to determine an area of low-melting alloys that could be used as a liquid metal fuel in U/sup 233/ breeder reactors. A phase diagram of this Al-rich corner of the system has been proposed. The data indicate that the binary eutectic valleys from the Al-- U and Al--Th systems meet at a point in the neighborhood of the composition of 76 wt.% Al, 18 wt.% Th, and 6 wt.% U to give a ternary eutectic which solidifies at 630 deg C. Although microstructures indicate two different primary phases as required, a third binary valley leading to this ternary eutectic has not been established. Results of the investigation show that there is a rather wide range of compositions of U and Th in Al, varying from 13 wt% U at zero wt.% Th to zero wt.% U at 25 wt.% Th, that can be maintained in a onephase liquid solution at temperatures even lower than 640 deg C. If a temperature of 650 deg C is the minimum, then an even wider variation in U and Th compositions can be tolerated for a single liquid-phase alloy. (auth)

• Research Organization: Ames Lab., Ames, Iowa
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-82
• NSA Number: NSA-12-004828
• OSTI ID: 4311828
• Report Number(s): ISC-832
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALUMINUM ALLOYS
BREEDING
EUTECTICS
FUEL ELEMENTS
LATTICES
LIQUID METAL FUEL
MELTING POINTS
METALLOGRAPHY
MICROSCOPY
MINERALOGY, METALLURGY, AND CERAMICS
PHASE DIAGRAMS
REACTORS
SPECIFIC HEAT
THERMODYNAMICS
THORIUM ALLOYS
URANIUM 233
URANIUM ALLOYS
VARIATIONS