Abstract
Uranium carbonitride—a solid solution of stoichiometric UC and UN compounds—is considered as a potential nuclear fuel, and is only one of multiple phases that occur in the ternary U-C-N system. Explanation of available observed data and successful synthesis of the ternary U(C, N) compound requires understanding of complex phase equilibria that take place in the system. A subregular solution model is introduced to account for the non-stoichiometry of two-component solid phases (α-, β-UC2, α-U2N3), and an ideal solution model—for the substitutional nature of C–N interactions in the non-metal sublattice of U(C, N). The model better reproduces the phase fields compared to the previously reported approach, and is in good agreement with the available observed data. The stability diagram of U(C, N) with its composition and temperature (or pressure) as axes is used to compare the model predictions and the observed equilibrium data. While the theory is consistent with the available data, there is a certain disagreement with the observed equilibrium N2 partial pressure.
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Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate noticeable insights that occurred during discussions of non-convex minimization problems with I.Ya. Zabotin from Kazan Federal University, and implementation of convex hull algorithms in relation to the Gibbs energy minimization with S. Chen from CompuTherm, LLC, and A. Voskov from Moscow State University. This work was authored by employees of Clemson University and BWX Technologies, Inc. under Contract No. 80MSFC17C0006 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, or allow others to do so for United States Government purposes. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner.
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Manuscript submitted October 8, 2019.
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Supporting Information description: Supplementary Information contains a detailed description of the algorithm implemented for the construction of the phase diagrams (Sect. 1 of SI); physical interpretation of expressions used to calculate the Gibbs energies of phases (Sect. 2); details on modelling of interaction energies between species on different sublattices (Sect. 3); data used for the verification of the thermodynamic model (Sect. 4).
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Salamatin, A.A., Peng, F., Rider, K. et al. Non-stoichiometry Effects and Phase Equilibria in the Uranium-Carbon-Nitrogen Ternary System. Metall Mater Trans A 51, 2549–2563 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-020-05688-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-020-05688-2