Characterizing surrogates to develop an additive manufacturing process for U₃Si₂ nuclear fuel

Journal Article · 20 February 2019 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.02.026 · OSTI ID:1562889

Rosales, Jhonathan ^[1]; van Rooyen, Isabella J.  ^[1]; Parga, Clemente J.  ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

U₃Si₂ is considered as an accident-tolerant nuclear fuel candidate due to its promising high uranium density along with its improved thermal properties. The current U₃Si₂ powder metallurgical fabrication process encompasses numerous process steps with extensive fabrication times. Thus, an additive manufacturing process to fabricate U₃Si₂ is currently under development to ultimately produce U₃Si₂ fuel at a lower cost, in a timely and commercially-reliable manner. The current research work seeks to characterize U₃Si₂ surrogate materials fabricated by a laser synthesis. The characterization results provided novel microstructural data that aided in the early development stages of an additive manufacturing process. For this study, cerium, zirconium, and hafnium, were selected as surrogates based on their thermodynamic properties and crystal structure. As a result, the laser-synthesized samples were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) along with X-ray diffraction (XRD), where the different phases of formation, morphology, and microstructural features have been analyzed. Laser synthesis showed suitability for alloying Zr-Si and Hf-Si to ultimately form silicide compounds (Zr₃Si₂ and Hf₃Si₂).

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Nuclear Engineering
• Grant/Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1562889
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-18-46022-Rev000
• Journal Information: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Journal Issue: C Vol. 518; ISSN 0022-3115
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English