Activated sintering of ThO2 with Al2O3 under reducing and oxidizing conditions

Angela Baena; Thomas Cardinaels; Marc Verwerft; Jozef Vleugels; Koen Binnemans

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.12.013

Activated sintering of ThO2 with Al2O3 under reducing and oxidizing conditions

Angela Baena, Thomas Cardinaels, Marc Verwerft, Jozef Vleugels, Koen Binnemans

Research output › peer-review

Abstract

The effect of Al2O3 as non-soluble sintering aid of coarse-grained and fine-grained ThO2 has been explored under oxidizing and reducing atmospheres. It was found that Al2O3 increases the sinterability of coarse-grained ThO2 powder substantially under both oxidizing and reducing conditions. Sintering of fine-grained ThO2 powder based pellets resulted in slightly lower densities upon doping with Al2O3 compared to the undoped system. Precise X-ray diffraction analysis of the unit cell parameter and microprobe investigations ascertained that Al is not incorporated in the ThO2 matrix under any of the experimental conditions. X-ray diffraction measurements on the sintered ThO2 gave 559.74 +/- 0.01 pm as the cubic unit cell parameter. It was further observed that the sintering atmosphere has a limited, but measurable effect in the late sintering stage of pure ThO2.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	34-43
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of Nuclear Materials
Volume	470
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.12.013
State	Published - 1 Mar 2016

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10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.12.013

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title = "Activated sintering of ThO2 with Al2O3 under reducing and oxidizing conditions",

abstract = "The effect of Al2O3 as non-soluble sintering aid of coarse-grained and fine-grained ThO2 has been explored under oxidizing and reducing atmospheres. It was found that Al2O3 increases the sinterability of coarse-grained ThO2 powder substantially under both oxidizing and reducing conditions. Sintering of fine-grained ThO2 powder based pellets resulted in slightly lower densities upon doping with Al2O3 compared to the undoped system. Precise X-ray diffraction analysis of the unit cell parameter and microprobe investigations ascertained that Al is not incorporated in the ThO2 matrix under any of the experimental conditions. X-ray diffraction measurements on the sintered ThO2 gave 559.74 +/- 0.01 pm as the cubic unit cell parameter. It was further observed that the sintering atmosphere has a limited, but measurable effect in the late sintering stage of pure ThO2.",

keywords = "Significant , sintering improvement, doping , Al2O3, solubility, Th2O3, reducing, Atmonsphere, pure",

author = "Angela Baena and Thomas Cardinaels and Marc Verwerft and Jozef Vleugels and Koen Binnemans",

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year = "2016",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Activated sintering of ThO2 with Al2O3 under reducing and oxidizing conditions

AU - Baena, Angela

AU - Cardinaels, Thomas

AU - Verwerft, Marc

AU - Vleugels, Jozef

AU - Binnemans, Koen

N1 - Score=10

PY - 2016/3/1

Y1 - 2016/3/1

N2 - The effect of Al2O3 as non-soluble sintering aid of coarse-grained and fine-grained ThO2 has been explored under oxidizing and reducing atmospheres. It was found that Al2O3 increases the sinterability of coarse-grained ThO2 powder substantially under both oxidizing and reducing conditions. Sintering of fine-grained ThO2 powder based pellets resulted in slightly lower densities upon doping with Al2O3 compared to the undoped system. Precise X-ray diffraction analysis of the unit cell parameter and microprobe investigations ascertained that Al is not incorporated in the ThO2 matrix under any of the experimental conditions. X-ray diffraction measurements on the sintered ThO2 gave 559.74 +/- 0.01 pm as the cubic unit cell parameter. It was further observed that the sintering atmosphere has a limited, but measurable effect in the late sintering stage of pure ThO2.

AB - The effect of Al2O3 as non-soluble sintering aid of coarse-grained and fine-grained ThO2 has been explored under oxidizing and reducing atmospheres. It was found that Al2O3 increases the sinterability of coarse-grained ThO2 powder substantially under both oxidizing and reducing conditions. Sintering of fine-grained ThO2 powder based pellets resulted in slightly lower densities upon doping with Al2O3 compared to the undoped system. Precise X-ray diffraction analysis of the unit cell parameter and microprobe investigations ascertained that Al is not incorporated in the ThO2 matrix under any of the experimental conditions. X-ray diffraction measurements on the sintered ThO2 gave 559.74 +/- 0.01 pm as the cubic unit cell parameter. It was further observed that the sintering atmosphere has a limited, but measurable effect in the late sintering stage of pure ThO2.

KW - Significant

KW - sintering improvement

KW - doping

KW - Al2O3

KW - solubility

KW - Th2O3

KW - reducing

KW - Atmonsphere

KW - pure

UR - http://ecm.sckcen.be/OTCS/llisapi.dll/open/26060294

U2 - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.12.013

DO - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.12.013

M3 - Article

SN - 0022-3115

VL - 470

SP - 34

EP - 43

JO - Journal of Nuclear Materials

JF - Journal of Nuclear Materials

ER -