Effects of Irradiation on Some Uranium-plutonium Alloys PDF Download

Author: J. H. Kittel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Irradiation
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Irradiations were made on a number of uranium-plutonium alloy specimens made from both cast and extruded materials.

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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Irradiations were made on a number of uranium-plutonium alloy specimens made from both cast and extruded materials. The cast alloys included alloys of uranium with 3.7, 5.6, and 13.0 wt. % plutonium, and the extruded alloys included alloys of uranium with 9.5, 14.1, and 15.7 wt.% plutonium. One-half of the extruded specimens were given a heat treatment consisting of heating to 545 deg C and cooling to and holding at 500 deg C for one hour in an attempt to remove the preferred orientation that was anticipated from extrusion. The specimens were irradiated to burnups ranging up to 0.54 at. % with central temperatures ranging up to 490 deg C. The cast specimens were all found to have developed severe surface roughening as a result of the irradiation they received, presumably because of excessively large grain sizes present before irradiation. Identically fabricated unalloyed uranium specimens showed similar behavior. The as-extruded alloy specimens maintained good surface smoothness under irradiation, but showed elongations which were dependent on plutonium content. For example, in samples with 0.4 at.% burnup, a 14.1 wt.% plutonium alloy specimen elongated 96%, whereas an 18.7 wt. % plutonium alloy specimen elongated only 5.4%. The heat-treated extruded specimens did not elongate anisotropically, indicating that the heat treatment used was effective in randomizing the grain orientation. However, the heat-treated specimens developed excessive surface roughening, apparently because the heat treatment caused an undesirably large grain size. (auth).

Author: J. A. Horak
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Alloys
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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A total of 35 specimens of U-Pu-fissium alloy and 2 specimens of U-10 wt% Pu-5 wt% Mo alloy were irradiated as a part of the fuel-alloy development program for fast breeder reactors at Argonne National Laboratory. Total atom burnups ranged from 1.0 to 1.8% at maximum fuel temperatures ranging from 230 to 470 deg C. Emphasis was placed on the EBR-II Core-III reference fuel material, which is an injection-cast, U-20 wt% Pu-10 wt% fissium alloy. It was found that this material begins to swell catastrophically at irradiation temperatures above 370 deg C. The ability of the fuel to resist swelling did not appear to vary appreciably with minor changes in zirconium or fissium content. Decreasing the Pu to 10 wt%, however, significantly improved the swelling behavior of the alloy. Both pour-cast and thermally cycled material and pour-cast, extruded, and thermally cycled material appeared to be more stable under irradiation than injection-cast material. Under comparable irradiation conditions, the specimens of U-20 wt% Pu- 5 wt% Mo alloy were less dimensionally stable than the U-Pu-fissium alloys investigated.

Author: A. A. Bauėr
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear fuel elements
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Author: J. A. Horak
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Binary systems (Metallurgy).
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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A specimen of cast thorium-5 wt% plutonium and one of thorium-10 wt% plutonium were irradiated to total atom burnups of 1.9 and 2.6%, respectively, at maximum fuel temperatures of approximately 450 deg C. Both alloys displayed excellent dimensional stability with volume increases of 0.8 and 1.2% per atom per cent burnup, respectively. Three cold-rolled specimens of zirconium-5 wt% plutonium and one cold-rolled specimen of zirconium-7 wt% plutonium were also irradiated. The zirconium- plutonium alloy specimens all showed extremely poor dimensional stability, with anisotropic elongations ranging from approximately 100 to 500%. The irradiation growth coefficients for these specimens ranged from 90 to 210 microinches per inch per atom per cent burnup. The poor dimensional stability of the zirconium-plutonium alloy specimens is attributed to a highly preferred grain orientation that presumably developed during cold rolling.

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Category :
Languages : en
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A total of 35 specimens of U-Pu-fissium alloy and 2 specimens of U-10 wt% Pu-5 wt% Mo alloy were irradiated as a part of the fue1-alloy development program for fast breeder reactors at Argonne National Laboratory. Total atom burnups ranged from 1.0 to 1.8% at maximum fuel temperatures ranging from 230 to 470 deg C. Emphasis was placed on the EBR-II Core-III reference fuel material, which is an injection-cast, U-20 wt% Pu-10 wt% fissium alloy. lt was found that this material begins to swell catastrophically at irradiation temperatures above 370 deg C. The ability of the fuel to resist swelling did not appear to vary appreciably with minor changes in Zr or fissium content. Decreasing the Pu to 10 wt%, however, significantly improved the swelling behavior of the alloy. Both pourcast and thermally cycled material and pour-cast, extruded, and thermally cycled material appeared to be more stable under irradiation than injection-cast material. Under comparable irradiation conditions, the specimens of U-20 wt% Pu- 5 wt% Mo alloy were less dimensionally stable than the U-Pu-fissium alloys investigated. (auth).

Author: J. A. L. Robertson
Publisher: New York : Gordon and Breach
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Author: J. H. Kittel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Irradiation
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Results are given from irradiation experiments on powder compacts prepared from uranium, uranium hydride, and a number of uranium alloys. The methods by which the compacts were prepared included end-pressing, side-pressing, hot-rolling, and hot-swaging. When subjected to irradiation, the uranium compacts invariably shortened in the pressing direction, whereas the compacts prepared from uranium hydride elongated in the pressing direction. The alloy compacts elongated in the direction of pressing, rolling, or swaging. Both the unalloyed and alloyed compacts decreased in density under irradiation, and the rate of density decrease was found to depend strongly on the irradiation temperature.

Author: R. E. Hueschen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Irradiation
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Author: Gordon G. Bentle
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear fuel elements
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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