| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Seaborg Institutes: Emerging Topics in Actinide Sciences
|
| Presentation Title |
Thermal conductivity in actinides |
| Author(s) |
Dominik Legut, Urszula Wdowik |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Dominik Legut |
| Abstract Scope |
Heat transfer is one of the fundamental properties of nuclear fuels. Utilizing quantum-mechanical calculations we are able to determine the phonon and electron contributions as demonstrated for Th and ThC.
UC exhibits larger electron correlations and stronger relativistic effects. This could be achieved by applying Coulomb-type repulsion of 1.5-3.0 eV along with spin-orbit coupling (DFT+U+SO). In addition the electron-phonon scattering was calculated. The computed resistivity and thermal conductivity below 1600 K closely correspond to experimental data. Our investigation shows that electrical transport in UC is dominated by the electron-phonon interaction, as indicated by the linear behavior of its resistivity as a function of temperature. Also, the major contribution to thermal conductivity of UC comes from the electronic term, which remains several times larger than the lattice thermal conductivity. The understanding gained from our theoretical study suggests roads to optimize thermal conductivity of UC-based nuclear fuels at operating temperatures. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Computational Materials Science & Engineering, Modeling and Simulation |