HIGH TEMPERATURE REACTIONS OF THORIUM AND THORIA AND THE VAPOR PRESSURE OF THORIA

Technical Report · Fri Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 1961

OSTI ID:4837775

Darnell, A J; McCollum, W A

Vaporization studies on a mixture of liquid thorium and thorium dioxide were carried out in a thorium-dioxidelined tangsten effusion ceil over the temperature interval of 1984 to 2564 deg K. The predominant gaseous species from this reaction was identified as ThO by mass spectrometric, chemical, and evaporation studies. The pressure of ThO over the mixture was given by log P (atm) = -- (22,200 plus or minus 700)/T + (4.70 plus or minus 0.31). The solubility of ThO/sub 2/ in Th(l), determined from vacuum fusion oxygen analyses of quench samples, was 3.5 wt% ThO2 at 2090 deg K and 8.2 wt% ThO/sub 2/ at 2450 deg K. The vapor pressure equation for ThO/sub 2/(s) was also determined by the effusion method in a tungsten cell over the temperature range of from 2268 to 2593 deg K. The vapor pressure equation for ThO/sub 2/(s) -- ThO/sub 2/(g) is: log P (atm) = ization data for solid thorium gave the following equation for Th(l) -- Th(g): log P (atm) = --27,960/T + 5.575. However, solubility studies indicated that the partial pressures of Th and ThO2 from a mixture of Th(l) and ThO/sub 2/(s) would be less than that obtained from the pressure equations for Th(g) and ThO/sub 2/(g). (auth)

• Research Organization: Atomics International. Div. of North American Aviation, Inc., Canoga Park, Calif.
• DOE Contract Number: AT(11-1)-GEN-8
• NSA Number: NSA-15-029089
• OSTI ID: 4837775
• Report Number(s): NAA-SR-6498
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
EVAPORATION
GASES
HIGH TEMPERATURE
MASS SPECTROMETERS
MELTING
OXYGEN
PRESSURE
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
SOLUBILITY
THORIUM
THORIUM OXIDES
VACUUM
VAPORS