Experimental Investigation of Physical and Mechanical Properties of (U,Zr), (U,Th), and (U,Th,Zr) Metallic and Nitride Fuels

Sammanfattning

Metallic fuels were produced through arc-melting. As-cast phases, microstructuresand selected mechanical properties were investigated for UZr,U-Th, and U-Th-Zr systems. For each system, two compositions wereinvestigated, with approximately 5 at. % and 20 at. % solute material, for atotal of six alloys. As-cast alloy microstructures were assessed in the contextof their equilibrium systems and compared to relevant published works whereapplicable. Mechanical testing revealed increased hardness with increasingsolute concentration, compared to the reference materials. The results supportthe conclusion that solid solution strengthening is the primary mechanismenabling this change in each binary system.Additionally, (U,Zr)N fuel was synthesized. This work exemplified aprocess to produce fuel with a homogeneous distribution of zirconium in thefuel matrix, thus representing a simulated burn-up distribution of zirconium.Refinements can be made to further improve this process in future work. Thesefindings will support a broader separate effects testing campaign underway bythe SUNRISE centre