In situ study of reactive sintering in U+Si compacted powders to form the U3Si2 compound.
Studies are performed worldwide to convert Research Reactors to low enriched uranium fuel. The U3Si2 compound is one of the main candidates. U3Si2-based fuels correspond to micrometric particles dispersed in an Al matrix, to form a fuel core that is cladded to obtain a fuel plate by rolling. U3Si2 is usually synthesized by melting-solidification. The so obtained ingot is crushed, leading to powder particles that are difficult to control in terms of size and shape. It induces a limitation of the volume fraction of U3Si2 particles in the fuel core. New process routes, allowing to customize the particles to make them more suitable for rolling, are currently studied. Julien Havette's thesis comes within this framework. He developed an innovative process based on reactive sintering of compacted powders of U and Si, to obtain a porous U3Si2 pellet which can be easily powdered. In-situ neutron diffraction would allow (i) to follow the bulk solid-state reaction and thus, optimize the heat treatment conditions to find a compromise between reaction kinetics and densification and (ii) to acquire a better knowledge of the U+Si binary system and of the formation of U3Si2.
Please note that you will need to login with your ILL credentials to download the data.
Download DataThe recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is in the following format:
KLOSEK Vincent; FIQUET olivier; HAVETTE Julien; X. ILTIS; PALANCHER Herve; PASTUREL Mathieu and SUARD Emmanuelle. (2020). In situ study of reactive sintering in U+Si compacted powders to form the U3Si2 compound.. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.1-01-168
ILL has partnered with DataCite as the registration agency
for data persistent identifiers.