U3Si2 behavior in H2O: Part I, flowing steam and the effect of hydrogen

Wood, Elizabeth Sooby; White, Joshua Taylor; Grote, Christopher John; Nelson, Andrew Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.01.002

Title: U₃Si₂ behavior in H₂O: Part I, flowing steam and the effect of hydrogen

Abstract

Recent interest in U₃Si₂ as an advanced light water reactor fuel has driven assessment of numerous properties, but characterization of its response to H₂O environments is absent from the literature. The behavior of U₃Si₂ in H₂O containing atmospheres is investigated and presented in a two-part series of articles aimed to understand the degradation mechanism of U₃Si₂ in H₂O. Reported here are thermogravimetric data for U₃Si₂ exposed to flowing steam at 250–470 °C. Additionally the response of U₃Si₂ to flowing Ar-6% H₂ from 350 to 400 °C is presented. Microstructural degradation is observed following hours of exposure at 350 °C in steam. U₃Si₂ undergoes pulverization on the timescale of minutes when temperatures are increased above 400 °C. In conclusion, this mechanism is accelerated in flowing Ar-H₂ at the same temperatures.

Authors:

Wood, Elizabeth Sooby ^[1]; White, Joshua Taylor ^[2]; Grote, Christopher John ^[2];

^[2]

The Univ. of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Publication Date:: Wed Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2018

Research Org.:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

OSTI Identifier:: 1417827

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1506713

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-17-30039
Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3115

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of Nuclear Materials

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 501; Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3115

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; Material Science

Citation Formats


                    Wood, Elizabeth Sooby, White, Joshua Taylor, Grote, Christopher John, and Nelson, Andrew Thomas. U3Si2 behavior in H2O: Part I, flowing steam and the effect of hydrogen.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.01.002.

Copy to clipboard


                    Wood, Elizabeth Sooby, White, Joshua Taylor, Grote, Christopher John, & Nelson, Andrew Thomas. U3Si2 behavior in H2O: Part I, flowing steam and the effect of hydrogen.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.01.002

Copy to clipboard


                    Wood, Elizabeth Sooby, White, Joshua Taylor, Grote, Christopher John, and Nelson, Andrew Thomas. Wed .  
"U3Si2 behavior in H2O: Part I, flowing steam and the effect of hydrogen".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.01.002.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1417827.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1417827,

  title        = {U3Si2 behavior in H2O: Part I, flowing steam and the effect of hydrogen},

  author       = {Wood, Elizabeth Sooby and White, Joshua Taylor and Grote, Christopher John and Nelson, Andrew Thomas},

  abstractNote = {Recent interest in U3Si2 as an advanced light water reactor fuel has driven assessment of numerous properties, but characterization of its response to H2O environments is absent from the literature. The behavior of U3Si2 in H2O containing atmospheres is investigated and presented in a two-part series of articles aimed to understand the degradation mechanism of U3Si2 in H2O. Reported here are thermogravimetric data for U3Si2 exposed to flowing steam at 250–470 °C. Additionally the response of U3Si2 to flowing Ar-6% H2 from 350 to 400 °C is presented. Microstructural degradation is observed following hours of exposure at 350 °C in steam. U3Si2 undergoes pulverization on the timescale of minutes when temperatures are increased above 400 °C. In conclusion, this mechanism is accelerated in flowing Ar-H2 at the same temperatures.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.01.002},

  journal      = {Journal of Nuclear Materials},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 501,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2018},

  month        = {Wed Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2018}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.01.002

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 37 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables:

Figure 1: Thermogram of Zr sponge exposed to flowing steam ramped from 400-1000°C in three different Al₂O₃ crucible geometries: platform (red), modi ed DTA crucible (green), and deep-DTA crucible (black).

All figures and tables (10 total)

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Figures / Tables found in this record:

Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

U₃Si₂ behavior in H₂O environments: Part II, pressurized water with controlled redox chemistry

Journal Article Nelson, Andrew Thomas ; Migdisov, Artaches ; Wood, Elizabeth Sooby ; ... - Journal of Nuclear Materials

Recent interest in U₃Si₂ as an advanced light water reactor fuel has driven assessment of numerous properties, but characterization of its response to H₂O environments is sparse in available literature. The behavior of U₃Si₂ in H₂O containing atmospheres is investigated and presented in a two-part series of articles. This work examines the behavior of U₃Si₂ following exposure to pressurized H₂O at temperatures from 300 to 350 °C. Testing was performed using two autoclave configurations and multiple redox conditions. Use of solid state buffers to attain a controlled water chemistry is also presented as a means to test actinide-bearing systems. Buffersmore »« less
Cited by 35
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.12.026

Full Text Available
Cr-doped U₃Si₂ composite fuels under steam corrosion

Journal Article Gong, Bowen ; Cai, Lu ; Lei, Penghui ; ... - Corrosion Science

Dense Cr-doped U₃Si₂ composite fuels were manufactured by spark plasma sintering, and the effects of Cr addition on mechanical properties and oxidation resistance were investigated. Furthermore, dynamic oxidation testing by thermogravimetric analysis revealed significantly improved oxidation resistance of U₃Si₂ with minimal doping of 3 wt% Cr. The onset oxidation temperature increased to above 550 °C in air and ~520 °C in steam conditions for the 5 wt% and 10 wt% Cr-doped composites. Steam corrosion testing under 360 °C for 24 hours indicated well-maintained pellet integrity without pulverization for the 10 wt% Cr-doped U₃Si₂ pellet which only showed minor surface oxidation.more »« less
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2020.109001

Full Text Available
Investigation of reactive ion etching of dielectrics and Si in CHF{sub 3}/O{sub 2} or CHF{sub 3}/Ar for photovoltaic applications

Journal Article Gatzert, C ; Blakers, A W ; Deenapanray, Prakash N. K. ; ... - Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

Using a combination of etch rate, photoconductance, and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements, the authors have investigated the use of reactive ion etching (RIE) of dielectrics and Si in CHF{sub 3}/O{sub 2} and CHF{sub 3}/Ar plasmas for photovoltaic applications. The radio frequency power (rf-power) and gas flow rate dependencies have shown that the addition of either O{sub 2} or Ar to CHF{sub 3} can be used effectively to change the etch selectivity between SiO{sub 2} and Si{sub 3}N{sub 4}. The effective carrier lifetime of samples degraded upon exposure to a CHF{sub 3}-based plasma, reflecting the introduction of recombination centersmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1116/1.2333571
Oxidation kinetics of SPS-densified U₃Si₂ fuels—Microstructure impact

Journal Article Gong, Bowen ; Yang, Kun ; Zhao, Dong ; ... - Journal of Applied Physics

Here, U₃Si₂ is a potential candidate for accident tolerant fuels because of its high uranium density and excellent thermal conductivity in comparison to UO₂. However, U₃Si₂ suffers from oxidation, steam corrosion, and subsequent disintegration/pulverization. The detailed investigation of kinetics that incorporates fundamental treatment of oxidation of U₃Si₂ is scarcely reported, and the oxidation mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. In this paper, the oxidation behavior of microcrystalline (mc^-) and nanocrystalline (nc^-) U₃Si₂ have been systematically investigated using a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) apparatus through a series of isothermal and non-isothermal kinetic studies. The isothermal kinetic study with a model-fitting approach indicatesmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0086630

Full Text Available
High temperature steam oxidation dynamics of U₃Si₂ with alloying additions: Al, Cr, and Y

Journal Article Wood, Elizabeth Sooby ; Moczygemba, C. ; Robles, Geronimo ; ... - Journal of Nuclear Materials

Uranium silicides are considered for advanced technology reactor fuels due to their enhanced thermal conductivity and high uranium density (U₃Si and U₃Si₂) compared to traditional UO₂. Susceptibility to oxidation and wash out, in the event of a cladding breech, could limit the potential for deployment of silicides as accident tolerant fuels. Mitigating the water reaction for U₃Si₂ could enable its use as an accident tolerant, high uranium density fuel or as a composite fuel constituent. Reported here is the impact of alloying additions of Al, Cr and Y on the high temperature, steam oxidation response of U₃Si₂. In addition tomore »« less
Cited by 18
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.152072

Full Text Available

Similar Records

Title: U3Si2 behavior in H2O: Part I, flowing steam and the effect of hydrogen

Abstract

Citation Formats

Figures / Tables:

Title: U₃Si₂ behavior in H₂O: Part I, flowing steam and the effect of hydrogen