A STUDY ON THE MELTING AND RELEASE OF REFRACTORY MATERIALS USING COLD CRUCIBLE MELTING

摘要

The melting and release technique of UO_2/ZrO_2/Zr mixtures has been under development as part of the KAERI FCI program(TROI). The induction skull melting method which is based on direct inductive heating of an electrically conducting melt by an alternating electro-magnetic(RF) field is applied for the melting and release of the mixtures. Before conducting melting of reactor material, the melting and release tests for TiO_2 were carried out in a crucible 15cm in diameter and 20cm in height with the 30kW RF generator 370kHz in frequency. The R.F generator with 150kW of 50kHz was manufactured for the melting and release of UO_2/ZrO_2 20kg. The melting and release test of ZrO_2 has been performed with two different crucibles. 3kg of TiO_2 melt that is 60% of the initial charged mass was released through the bottom hole punched by a puncher during a short period of time. 7kg and 20kg of ZrO_2 melt were released out from crucibles 15cm in diameter and 20cm in height and 22cm in diameter and 35cm in height, respectively.