Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.net.2018.09.022

Influences of heating processes on properties and microstructure of porous CeO2 beads as a surrogate for nuclear fuels fabricated by a microfluidic sol-gel process  

Song, Tong (School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China)
Guo, Lin (School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China)
Chen, Ming (School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China)
Chang, Zhen-Qi (School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China)
Publication Information
Nuclear Engineering and Technology / v.51, no.1, 2019 , pp. 257-262 More about this Journal
Abstract
The control of microstructure is critical for the porous fuel particles used for infiltrating actinide nuclides. This study concerns the effect of heating processes on properties and microstructure of the fuel particles. The uniform gel precursor beads were synthesized by a microfluidic sol-gel process and then the porous $CeO_2$ microspheres, as a surrogate for the ceramic nuclear fuel particles, were obtained by heating treatment of the gel precursors. The fabricated $CeO_2$ microspheres have a narrow size distribution and good sphericity due to the feature of microfluidics. The effects of heating processes parameters, such as heating mode and peak temperatures on the properties of microspheres were studied in detail. An optimized heating mode and the peak temperature of $650^{\circ}C$ were selected to produce porous $CeO_2$ microspheres. The optimized heating mode can avoid the appearance of broken or crack microspheres in the heating process, and as-prepared porous microspheres were of suitable pore size distribution and pore volume for loading minor actinide (MA) solution by an infiltration method that is used for fabrication of MA-bearing nuclear fuel beads. After the infiltration process, $1000^{\circ}C$ was selected as the final temperature to improve the compressive strength of microspheres.
Keywords
Nuclear fuel; Microfluidics; Porous $CeO_2$ microspheres; Heating processes; Microstructure;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 M.V. Norton, F.A. DiGiano, R.T. Hallen, Selective separation of europium using polymer-enhanced ultrafiltration, Water Environ. Res. 69 (1997) 244-253.   DOI
2 E. Remy, S. Picart, S. Grandjean, T. Delahaye, N. Herlet, P. Allegri, O. Dugne, R. Podor, N. Clavier, P. Blanchart, A. Ayral, Calcined resin microsphere pelletization (CRMP): a novel process for sintered metallic oxide pellets, J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. 32 (2012) 3199-3209.   DOI
3 M. Mazaheri, A.M. Zahedi, M. Haghighatzadeh, S.K. Sadrnezhaad, Sintering of titania nanoceramic: densification and grain growth, Ceram. Int. 35 (2009) 685-691.   DOI
4 S. Pillon, J. Somers, S. Grandjean, J. Lacquement, Aspects of fabrication of curium-based fuels and targets, J. Nucl. Mater. 320 (2003) 36-43.   DOI
5 Z. Zhang, Y. Liu, G.C. Yao, Synthesis and characterization of dense and fine nickel ferrite ceramics through two-step sintering, Ceram. Int. 38 (2012) 3343-3350.   DOI
6 N. Chauvin, R.J.M. Konings, H. Matzke, Optimisation of inert matrix fuel concepts for americium transmutation, J. Nucl. Mater. 274 (1999) 105-111.   DOI
7 B. Ye, J.L. Miao, J.L. Li, Z.C. Zhao, Z.Q. Chang, C.A. Serra, Fabrication of sizecontrolled $CeO_2$ microparticles by a microfluidic sol-gel process as an analog preparation of ceramic nuclear fuel, J. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 50 (2013) 774-780.   DOI
8 Z.F. Song, J. Wei, X. Li, W.Y. Zhou, Z.Q. Chang, C.A. Serra, Synthesis of sizecontrolled Pt/C/PTFE hydrophobic catalyst pellets in a capillary-based microfluidic system, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 39 (2014) 16944-16952.   DOI
9 R.J.M. Konings, D. Haas, Fuels and targets for transmutation, Compt. Rendus Phys. 3 (2002) 1013-1022.   DOI
10 M. Osaka, S. Miwa, Y. Tachi, Simple fabrication process for $CeO_2$-MgO composite as surrogate for actinide-containing target for use in nuclear fuel, Ceram. Int. 32 (2006) 659-663.   DOI
11 V.N. Vaidya, Status of sol-gel process for nuclear fuels, J. Sol. Gel Sci. Technol. 46 (2008) 369-381.   DOI
12 C. Serra, N. Berton, M. Bouquey, L. Prat, G. Hadziioannou, A predictive approach of the influence of the operating parameters on the size of polymer particles synthesized in a simplified microfluidic system, Langmuir 23 (2007) 7745-7750.   DOI
13 K. Tsuchiya, H. Kawamura, Development of wet process with substitution reaction for the mass production of $Li_2TiO_2$ pebbles, J. Nucl. Mater. 283 (2000) 1380-1384.   DOI
14 W.J. Zhang, C.G. Li, Z. Ma, L.L. Yang, H.B. He, Effects of calcination temperature on properties of 0.5%Al-3%In-$TiO_2$ photocatalyst prepared using sol-gel method, J. Adv. Oxid. Technol. 19 (2016) 119-124.   DOI