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Oxidation behaviour of uranium and U–10wt.%Mo alloy in air

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The isothermal oxidation behaviour of metallic uranium (U) and U–10wt.% molybdenum (U–10Mo) were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Thermogravimetric (TG) techniques in the temperature ranges of 473–673 K and 773–873 K, respectively. Dynamic (non-isothermal) TG plot was used to estimate the onset of breakaway oxidation and select the temperature regime for isothermal studies. Isothermal oxidation was used to study the kinetics of the oxidation reaction. It was found from XRD study that uranium was completely oxidised to U3O8 at 673 K after 3 h whereas in U–10Mo even at 848 K, α-U & UO2+x phases were present along with U3O8 at the end of 3 h. The activation energy for oxidation of U–10 wt% Mo was determined to be 120 kJ/mol in the temperature range of 773–873 K and that of uranium was 90 kJ/mol in the temperature range of 523–673 K. The oxidation resistance of U–10Mo could be attributed to both (i) isotropic γ-phase (bcc) of U-10Mo resulting in stable oxide film compared to that formed on α-phase (orthorhombic) uranium and (ii) lattice strain due to substitution of Mo in the oxide lattice which in turn retards the diffusion of oxygen through the oxide film.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mr. Vivek Bhasin, Director, NFG & Mr. R.Keswani, Head, MFD for their constant support and encouragement during the course of this work. The authors also thank Dr. S.C. Parida, Head, PDD for providing the necessary support and guidance on working with Thermogravimetry and fruitful discussion during this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metallic Fuels Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India

    R. Rakesh, Arihant Jain & V. P. Sinha

  2. Product Development Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India

    S. P. Roy

  3. Materials Science Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India

    R. Tewari

  4. Homi Bhabha National Institute, Anushaktinagar, Mumbai, 400 094, India

    R. Rakesh & R. Tewari

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Contributions

R. Rakesh: Conceptualization, Synthesis, Characterization, Data analysis, Writing-original draft, S. P. Roy: Characterization, Writing-review & editing, Arihant Jain: Characterization, Data analysis, V. P. Sinha: Writing—review & editing, R. Tewari: Conceptualization, Writing—review & editing.

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Correspondence to R. Rakesh.

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Rakesh, R., Roy, S.P., Jain, A. et al. Oxidation behaviour of uranium and U–10wt.%Mo alloy in air. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 3181–3190 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08974-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08974-6

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