| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Microstructural, Mechanical and Chemical Behavior of Solid Nuclear Fuel and Fuel-cladding Interface
|
| Presentation Title |
Assessing the Influence of Microstructure on Uranium Hydride Size Distributions via Small Angle Neutron Scattering |
| Author(s) |
Zachary D. Harris, Elena Garlea, Tasha Boyd, Lisa DeBeer-Schmitt, Kenneth Littrell, Sean Agnew |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Zachary D. Harris |
| Abstract Scope |
The effect of microstructure on the internal hydriding behavior of both cast (1 mm grain size) and rolled (25 m grain size) uranium containing hydrogen concentrations between 0 and 1.8 wppm were evaluated via small angle neutron scattering (SANS). Increasing hydrogen content up to 1.8 wppm in the cast uranium only weakly affected the average uranium hydride (UH3) precipitate size, calculated from the SANS data. Conversely, the UH3 phase fraction was found to strongly depend on the hydrogen content in the same as-cast samples. A substantially reduced UH3 particle size distribution was observed in the rolled uranium relative to cast uranium containing the same nominal hydrogen content. It is hypothesized that the suppression of UH3 formation in the rolled uranium is driven by increased hydrogen trapping at grain boundaries, and theoretical calculations that account for trap density, potency, and hydrogen diffusion kinetics support this hypothesis. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Characterization, Environmental Effects |