Determination of activation energy of sintering of ThO2-U3O8 pellets using the master sintering curve approach
- Resource Type
- article
- Authors
- Kutty T.R.G.; Khan K.B.; Hegde P.V.; Sengupta A.K.; Majumdar S.; Kamath H.S.
- Source
- Science of Sintering, Vol 35, Iss 3, Pp 125-132 (2003)
- Subject
- sintering
kinetics
activation energy
dilatometer
thoria
Chemical technology
TP1-1185
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 0350-820X
ThO2 containing around 2 to 3 % U233O2 is considered as fuel for the forthcoming Indian Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR). High-density ThO2-UO2 pellets have been fabricated by powder metallurgy route using ThO2 and U3O8 powders as the starting materials. U3O8 decomposes to UO2 during high temperature sintering and forms a solid solution with ThO2. The densification behaviour and sintering kinetics of the above were evaluated using a high temperature dilatometer using constant heating rate experiments. To evaluate the activation energy of sintering, a master sintering curve approach has been used. The activation energy for sintering for the above composition in air was found to be 500 kJ/mol.