| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
Materials in Nuclear Energy Systems (MiNES) 2021
|
| Symposium
|
Materials in Nuclear Energy Systems (MiNES) 2021
|
| Presentation Title |
Fabrication and Properties of Uranium Dioxide-uranium Boride Composites |
| Author(s) |
Erofili Kardoulaki |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Erofili Kardoulaki |
| Abstract Scope |
UO<sub>2</sub> composites with UB<sub>2</sub> and UB<sub>4</sub> have been proposed as advanced fuel candidates due to their high thermal conductivity, high melting point, high fissile density and their ability to incorporate a built-in burnable poison by tailoring the targeted <sup>10</sup>B/<sup>11</sup>B ratio. In this work, UO<sub>2</sub>-UB<sub>2</sub> and UO<sub>2</sub>-UB<sub>4</sub> composites were fabricated via spark plasma sintering. The thermal diffusivities of the samples were measured (299 to 1273 K) and were found to increase as a function of boride weight fraction. Our results confirm that UO<sub>2</sub> composites with either UB<sub>2</sub> or UB<sub>4</sub> have increased thermal diffusivity compared to UO<sub>2</sub> across the studied temperature range. Assessment of these results also indicated that in-situ reactions between the UO<sub>2</sub> and boride phases occur that suppress the diffusivity above 800 K. Oxidation of the boride phase was proposed as the underlying reaction and was confirmed through microstructural and crystallographic characterization performed on these samples. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Undecided |