| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Ceramic Materials for Nuclear Energy Research and Applications
|
| Presentation Title |
Modelling the Melting Temperature of CrUO4 to Assess its Behaviour during the Sintering of Cr-doped UO2 |
| Author(s) |
Sarah Vallely, Conor Galvin, Michael Cooper, Simon Middleburgh |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Sarah Vallely |
| Abstract Scope |
Cr2O3 is added to UO2 during fabrication to enhance grain growth. The large grains are anticipated to improve the mechanical properties of the fuel and increase fission gas retention. Previous atomic scale simulations and experimental work predict that when Cr2O3 is added to hyper-stoichiometric UO2, the excess lattice oxygen atoms are transferred to form a secondary CrUO4 phase. Limited data published on CrUO4 means that its behaviour during the sintering and irradiation of Cr-doped UO2 is largely unknown. Despite literature reporting the decomposition temperature of CrUO4, the solidus and liquidus of the compound is yet to be investigated. This work uses classical molecular dynamics to predict the melting temperature of CrUO4 to assess the possibility of such a phase contributing to liquid phase sintering in Cr-doped UO2, promoting grain growth. The formation energy of CrUO4 is also assessed using DFT to predict the UO2+x non-stoichiometry at which it forms. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Ceramics, |