| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Seaborg Institutes: Emerging Topics in Actinide Materials and Science
|
| Presentation Title |
U3O8 and UO2 Microspheres Synthesized Utilizing Sol-gel Chemistry and Microfluidics for Use as Next Generation Nuclear Fuels |
| Author(s) |
James Matthew Kurley, Rodney D Hunt, Jake W McMurray, Andrew T Nelson |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
James Matthew Kurley |
| Abstract Scope |
Sol-gel chemistry has been utilized to synthesize UO2 microspheres with a wide range of sizes for decades. Standard methods have difficulties in the generation of wet uranium gel spheres with diameters below 600µm and with a narrow size distribution. Microfluidics has the capability to generate monodisperse droplets with diameters below 10µm with ease. However, microfluidics suffers from a lower throughput and necessitates longer synthesis times to generate the same amount of material. To accommodate the longer synthesis times, the broth feedstock required modification to increase broth longevity at room temperature without inhibiting gelation. The modified broth successfully lasted 5 hours and produced ~0.5 grams of air-dried 75μm UO3•nH2O•mNH3 microspheres. The air-dried microspheres were converted to U3O8 and UO2 microspheres with diameters of ~50 and ~40µm, respectively. The smaller microspheres with narrower size distribution could expand the nuclear fuel design space while reducing conservatisms in fuel performance calculations. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Powder Materials, |