Uranium nitride (UN) pellets with controllable microstructure and phase – fabrication by spark plasma sintering and their thermal-mechanical and oxidation properties
Abstract
Dense uranium mononitride (UN) pellets with controlled microstructures and tailored grain size from large-grained to a few microns are synthesized by spark plasma sintering (SPS) combined with high energy ball milling. The impacts of the sintering conditions on fuel microstructure, grain size, physical density, and phase behavior are systematically investigated, and the thermal-mechanical properties and oxidation behavior of the SPS densified UN pellets are characterized. Higher sintering temperatures and longer ball milling durations and thus finer starting UN powders promote sintering and densification, and dense UN pellets above 95% theoretical density can be achieved by SPS at 1873 K for 10 min. UN phase purity is maintained in the SPS-densified pellets sintered at a lower temperature and short duration. A phase heterogeneity with secondary UO2 or uranium sesquinitride (U2N3) occurs for the UN pellets sintered at higher temperatures using finer UN powders. The hardness and fracture toughness of the SPS-densified UN pellets increase with smaller grain sizes and higher densities to 7.9 GPa and 3.5 MPa m1/2, respectively. Furthermore, both small (1–2 μm) and large grain-sized (30–50 µm) UN pellets exhibit good thermal conductivity. Dynamic oxidation testing by a thermogravimetric analyzer in air shows that the onset temperature for oxidationmore »
- Authors:
-
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Cranberry Township, PA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1819162
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-21-25305
Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3115; TRN: US2214609
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001; NE0008947; NE0008824
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Nuclear Materials
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 557; Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3115
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; uranium nitride; phase heterogeneity; microstructure control; oxidation resistance
Citation Formats
Yang, Kun, Kardoulaki, Erofili, Zhao, Dong, Gong, Bowen, Broussard, Andre, Metzger, Kathryn, White, Joshua Taylor, Sivack, Michael, Mcclellan, Kenneth James, Lahoda, Edward J., and Lian, Jie. Uranium nitride (UN) pellets with controllable microstructure and phase – fabrication by spark plasma sintering and their thermal-mechanical and oxidation properties. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.153272.
Yang, Kun, Kardoulaki, Erofili, Zhao, Dong, Gong, Bowen, Broussard, Andre, Metzger, Kathryn, White, Joshua Taylor, Sivack, Michael, Mcclellan, Kenneth James, Lahoda, Edward J., & Lian, Jie. Uranium nitride (UN) pellets with controllable microstructure and phase – fabrication by spark plasma sintering and their thermal-mechanical and oxidation properties. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.153272
Yang, Kun, Kardoulaki, Erofili, Zhao, Dong, Gong, Bowen, Broussard, Andre, Metzger, Kathryn, White, Joshua Taylor, Sivack, Michael, Mcclellan, Kenneth James, Lahoda, Edward J., and Lian, Jie. Sat .
"Uranium nitride (UN) pellets with controllable microstructure and phase – fabrication by spark plasma sintering and their thermal-mechanical and oxidation properties". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.153272. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1819162.
@article{osti_1819162,
title = {Uranium nitride (UN) pellets with controllable microstructure and phase – fabrication by spark plasma sintering and their thermal-mechanical and oxidation properties},
author = {Yang, Kun and Kardoulaki, Erofili and Zhao, Dong and Gong, Bowen and Broussard, Andre and Metzger, Kathryn and White, Joshua Taylor and Sivack, Michael and Mcclellan, Kenneth James and Lahoda, Edward J. and Lian, Jie},
abstractNote = {Dense uranium mononitride (UN) pellets with controlled microstructures and tailored grain size from large-grained to a few microns are synthesized by spark plasma sintering (SPS) combined with high energy ball milling. The impacts of the sintering conditions on fuel microstructure, grain size, physical density, and phase behavior are systematically investigated, and the thermal-mechanical properties and oxidation behavior of the SPS densified UN pellets are characterized. Higher sintering temperatures and longer ball milling durations and thus finer starting UN powders promote sintering and densification, and dense UN pellets above 95% theoretical density can be achieved by SPS at 1873 K for 10 min. UN phase purity is maintained in the SPS-densified pellets sintered at a lower temperature and short duration. A phase heterogeneity with secondary UO2 or uranium sesquinitride (U2N3) occurs for the UN pellets sintered at higher temperatures using finer UN powders. The hardness and fracture toughness of the SPS-densified UN pellets increase with smaller grain sizes and higher densities to 7.9 GPa and 3.5 MPa m1/2, respectively. Furthermore, both small (1–2 μm) and large grain-sized (30–50 µm) UN pellets exhibit good thermal conductivity. Dynamic oxidation testing by a thermogravimetric analyzer in air shows that the onset temperature for oxidation varies with microstructure and phase heterogeneity of the SPS densified UN pellets. Particularly, the smaller-grained (micron-sized) UN pellets containing uranium oxides and U2N3 display lower weight gain and significantly-reduced oxidation kinetics, and full oxidation completes at a temperature above 1173 K when tested with a ramp rate of 10 K/min.},
doi = {10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.153272},
journal = {Journal of Nuclear Materials},
number = ,
volume = 557,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Aug 28 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Sat Aug 28 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
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