THE HOMOGENIZATION OF ThO2-UO2 (LWBR Development Program)

摘要

The fabrication of sintered bodies of mixed-oxide solid solutions for nuclear applications has generally required two separate heat treat* ments of comparable length and temperature, After the mechanical mixing of component powders, the material was calcined to initiate the process of solid solution. The calcined material was then comminuted, shaped into the desired forms using an appropriate binder such as Car* bowas 6000, and then oinfored (Reference 1).nThO,,UO, pellets can be fabricated using only a single sintering cycle, which performs both the homogonixjtion and the sintering, it is desirable to predict the degree of homogeneity to be espected for the variables of particle site, em-taring lime, end temperature, and to select the most economical values giving a minimum satisfactory degree of homogeneity;in short, to understand the process.