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Title: Local measurement of bulk thermal diffusivity using photothermal radiometry

Journal Article · · Review of Scientific Instruments
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0089229 · OSTI ID:1896510

An experimental methodology using photothermal radiometry is developed for the accurate measurement of bulk thermal diffusivity of nuclear fuels and materials irradiated to high doses. Under these conditions, nuclear fuels, such as uranium oxide, and moderator materials, such as graphite, become friable, which requires characterization techniques that can accommodate irregularly shaped fragments. Photothermal radiometry, a good candidate for this application, involves locally heating a sample by using a laser and measuring the temperature field by monitoring blackbody radiation. The interaction volume for this study, less than a millimeter, is carefully chosen to sample a statistically significant number of large-scale structural features, such as pores and gas filled bubbles, and is small enough that the sample fragments can be treated as a thermal half-space. The thermal diffusivity standards considered in this study cover a range of thermal diffusivities representative of both fresh and spent nuclear fuels. We also consider a sample having a porous microstructure representative of large-scale structures found in materials irradiated to high doses. Our measurement methodology circumvents complex thermal wave models that address optical diffraction, nonlinear transfer function associated with blackbody radiation, and finite sample size effects. Consequently, the large measurement uncertainty associated with modeling these effects can be avoided. While the emphasis here is on nuclear fuels and materials, this measurement approach is well suited to measure thermal transport in a variety of technologically important materials associated with advanced synthesis techniques. Examples range from small, exotic single crystals grown using hydrothermal growth techniques to additively manufactured components having complex geometries.

Research Organization:
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
1896510
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1864602
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU-21-63606-Rev001; TRN: US2310708
Journal Information:
Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 93, Issue 4; ISSN 0034-6748
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Figures / Tables (9)