Microstructural characterization of U-Zr alloy fuel slugs for sodium-cooled fast reactor

In order to investigate a fabrication process of metallic fuel for sodium‐cooled fast reactor, U‐Zr fuel slugs were fabricated with gravity casting and injection casting. In order to reduce the formation of radioactive wastes, and to have a fine microstructure, spherical powder of U‐Zr alloy was als...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Surface and interface analysis 2012-11, Vol.44 (11-12), p.1515-1518
Main Authors: Kim, Ki-Hwan, Oh, Seok-Jin, Kim, Sun-Ki, Lee, Chong-Tak, Lee, Chan-Bock
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
electron microscopy
Exact sciences and technology
laminar structure
metallic fuel
microstructure
Physics
SFR
U-Zr
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In order to investigate a fabrication process of metallic fuel for sodium‐cooled fast reactor, U‐Zr fuel slugs were fabricated with gravity casting and injection casting. In order to reduce the formation of radioactive wastes, and to have a fine microstructure, spherical powder of U‐Zr alloy was also fabricated by centrifugal atomization. The microstructural characteristics were investigated by using electron microscopes and energy‐dispersive electron X‐ray spectroscope. U‐10wt.%Zr fuel slugs had some dispersion phases of Zr precipitates and Zr compounds of about 5 µm in size. The matrix was composed of fine laminar structure of about 0.15 µm in thickness. U grains became finer from about 30 µm in conventionally cast fuel slug to about 2 µm in atomized powder. Laminar structure became so fine from 0.2 µm in conventionally cast fuel slug to 0.1 µm in atomized powder. It is possible for atomized metallic fuel to have a fine microstructure, resulting in a higher fission gas release rate during irradiation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:0142-2421
1096-9918
DOI:10.1002/sia.4989