Interdiffusion and reaction between uranium and iron

A calorimetric study of high temperature phase stability in Fe–U alloys

“…A value of 150 kJ mol À1 is obtained for Q app . It emerges from a comparison of the present estimate of Q app with the the recent interdiffusion study on UÀFe binary system by Huang et al [27], and also based on the earlier study of Pavlinov et al [28], that Q app is in the expected range for the diffusional processes taking place in uranium-transition metal alloys.…”

Use of a single fuel containment material during pyroprocessing tests

“…While the Fe signal mainly came from the lower STS layer, the intermediate layer with a thickness of less than 15 lm showed the presence of both U and Fe, indicating their coexistence as a result of a eutectic reaction between them. The generation of the intermediate layer is not surprising because the eutectic reaction between U and Fe is very well known at high temperatures (Huang et al, 2012). Interestingly, we found that this intermediate layer was evenly distributed on the STS wire mesh although the entire STS surface had not been contact with the U particles during the salt distillation process.…”

“…This result can be explained by considering the phase condition of U and Fe at the distillation temperature. According to the binary phase diagram of U and Fe (Huang et al, 2012), they can exist in the liquid state at the distillation temperature. Therefore, it is believed that they spread on the STS wires due to the surface tension present in the liquid phase formed via the eutectic melting of U and Fe.…”

Results of High-Temperature Heating Test for Irradiated U-10Zr(-5Ce) with T92 Cladding Fuel

“…It is reported that the lanthanide fission products such as Nd, Ce, La, Pr, and Sm migrated into the fuel slug-cladding interface during irradiation, and lowered the eutectic threshold temperature, so that, eventually, they promoted the eutectic reaction between the fuel slug and cladding [2,3]. In addition, it is generally known that in the interface region between the fuel and the cladding, the observed phases on both sides in the liquid phase matrix combine the cladding elements Fe and Cr with the fuel components U and Zr [11][12][13] and the lanthanide fission products. As for the cladding-side region of the original fuel-cladding interface, the developed phases are enriched with cladding components and they contain differing amounts of the primary fuel components (U and Zr) and fission product components.…”