IRRADIATION BEHAVIOR OF METASTABLE BETA PHASE URANIUM ALLOYS

Technical Report · Thu Dec 13 04:00:00 EST 1962

OSTI ID:4749155

Green, H M; Nowak, W B

The behavior of neutron-irradiated, metastable beta phase uranium-base alloys has been investigated to determine whether such materials possess the stability to be a potential fuel for power reactor applications. Materials irradiated were unalloyed uranium, U--0.3 Cr, and U--0.3 Cr--0.3 Mo (wt%) with various metallurgical histories. The irradiation experiments were designed to yield maximum central metal temperatures of 450 deg C and burnups of 0.01 and 0.3 at.% in thermal neutron fluxes of 10/sup 13/ nv; actual conditions produced temperatures 340 to 430 deg C and burnups of about 0.006 and 0.3 at.% in a flux of about 0.5 x 10/sup 13/ nv. The data indicate that irradiation behavior of the beta phase uranium alloys is related to grain size, composition, and texture. In all cases the beta phase transformed to alpha in varying amounts depending upon the above metallurgical parameters. The most promising of these materials are the beta-quenched binary and ternary alloys, which exhibited a one percent increase in density compared to the one percent decrease of the alpha phase specimens. (auth)

• Research Organization: Nuclear Metals, Inc., West Concord, Mass.
• NSA Number: NSA-17-014894
• OSTI ID: 4749155
• Report Number(s): NMI-1255; NMI-TJ-52
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BURNUP
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
COOLING
DENSITY
FUELS
GRAIN SIZE
LATTICES
METALS, CERAMICS, AND OTHER MATERIALS
MOLYBDENUM ALLOYS
NEUTRON BEAMS
NEUTRON FLUX
PHASE DIAGRAMS
POWER
RADIATION EFFECTS
REACTORS
STABILITY
TEMPERATURE
THERMAL NEUTRONS
URANIUM
URANIUM ALLOYS