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Thermal properties and oxidation behavior of densified U3Si2 pellets prepared by solid-phase metallurgy combined with spark plasma sintering

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Abstract

A solid-phase metallurgy combined with spark plasma sintering technology was used to prepare U3Si2 pellets. The thermal conductivity and oxidation behavior of the pellets were studied. The pellets were highly dense (> 98% theoretical density) and had an ultra-high phase purity. The thermal conductivity of the U3Si2 pellets increased linearly with temperature from 300 to 973 K. By further annealing the pellets at 300 °C in air for two hours, the oxidation onset temperature was increased from 490 to 520 °C. A mechanism of pore passivation was proposed to account for the enhanced oxidation resistance.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Frontier Science Key Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Number QYZDY-SSW-JSC016) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (Grant Nos. 20ZR1468800 and 21ZR1476300).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201800, China

    Jin-Zhao Zou, Shi-Zhuan Xu, Peng Wang, Chang-Qing Cao, Chao Yan, Zhi-Yong Zhu & Jun Lin

  2. Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 200233, China

    Yan You, Jun-Qiang Lu & Li-Bing Zhu

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jin-Zhao Zou & Shi-Zhuan Xu

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  1. Jin-Zhao Zou
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  2. Shi-Zhuan Xu
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Zou, JZ., Xu, SZ., Wang, P. et al. Thermal properties and oxidation behavior of densified U3Si2 pellets prepared by solid-phase metallurgy combined with spark plasma sintering. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 4477–4488 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-09145-3

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