A logical approach for zero-rupture Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM) fuels via pressure-assisted sintering route

Caen Ang; Lance Snead; Yutai Kato

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.151987

A logical approach for zero-rupture Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM) fuels via pressure-assisted sintering route

Caen Ang, Lance Snead, Yutai Kato

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

A pathway to Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM™) fuel pellets showing absence of sintering-derived “rupture” has been demonstrated. In the typical FCM manufacturing process, TRistructral ISOtropic (TRISO) particles show statistically significant rupture, caused by contact of particles during the axial shrinkage of fuel pellet that accompanies pressure-assisted sintering. To solve this, template SiC powder discs were fabricated to host planes of TRISO particles, and the disks were stacked to form a cylindrical “green” pellet. After sintering, up to ∼34% packing fraction of particles (Vp) was physically feasible without contact between planes. Sintering was shown to reduce the axial displacement between planes of TRISO particles, and X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) showed planes separated by a displacement of ∼100 μm. XCT, optical microscopy and SEM showed the very limited radial displacement of particles. However, the relative density of the FCM pellet was limited to ∼95%. The current results support the zero-rupture concept as viable, but perturbations to TRISO arrangements and limited matrix density require further investigation to improve FCM fuel uniformity and microstructure.

Original language	English
Article number	151987
Journal	Journal of Nuclear Materials
Volume	531
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.151987
State	Published - Apr 1 2020
Externally published	Yes

Funding

David Sprouster (Stony Brook University) conducted XCT analysis of the prototypes. The authors would like to thank J. O. Kiggans (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) for contributions and useful discussion. M. Koehler, J. Dunlap, M. S. Scott and W. S. Emert (UTK) contributed to the experimental investigations. The work presented in this paper was supported by NASA Contract No. 80MSFC18C0011 supporting Versatile NTP.

Funders	Funder number
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	80MSFC18C0011

Keywords

FCM fuel
Inert matrix fuel
Processing
SiC
TRISO

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10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.151987

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title = "A logical approach for zero-rupture Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM) fuels via pressure-assisted sintering route",

abstract = "A pathway to Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM{\texttrademark}) fuel pellets showing absence of sintering-derived “rupture” has been demonstrated. In the typical FCM manufacturing process, TRistructral ISOtropic (TRISO) particles show statistically significant rupture, caused by contact of particles during the axial shrinkage of fuel pellet that accompanies pressure-assisted sintering. To solve this, template SiC powder discs were fabricated to host planes of TRISO particles, and the disks were stacked to form a cylindrical “green” pellet. After sintering, up to ∼34% packing fraction of particles (Vp) was physically feasible without contact between planes. Sintering was shown to reduce the axial displacement between planes of TRISO particles, and X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) showed planes separated by a displacement of ∼100 μm. XCT, optical microscopy and SEM showed the very limited radial displacement of particles. However, the relative density of the FCM pellet was limited to ∼95%. The current results support the zero-rupture concept as viable, but perturbations to TRISO arrangements and limited matrix density require further investigation to improve FCM fuel uniformity and microstructure.",

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N2 - A pathway to Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM™) fuel pellets showing absence of sintering-derived “rupture” has been demonstrated. In the typical FCM manufacturing process, TRistructral ISOtropic (TRISO) particles show statistically significant rupture, caused by contact of particles during the axial shrinkage of fuel pellet that accompanies pressure-assisted sintering. To solve this, template SiC powder discs were fabricated to host planes of TRISO particles, and the disks were stacked to form a cylindrical “green” pellet. After sintering, up to ∼34% packing fraction of particles (Vp) was physically feasible without contact between planes. Sintering was shown to reduce the axial displacement between planes of TRISO particles, and X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) showed planes separated by a displacement of ∼100 μm. XCT, optical microscopy and SEM showed the very limited radial displacement of particles. However, the relative density of the FCM pellet was limited to ∼95%. The current results support the zero-rupture concept as viable, but perturbations to TRISO arrangements and limited matrix density require further investigation to improve FCM fuel uniformity and microstructure.

AB - A pathway to Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM™) fuel pellets showing absence of sintering-derived “rupture” has been demonstrated. In the typical FCM manufacturing process, TRistructral ISOtropic (TRISO) particles show statistically significant rupture, caused by contact of particles during the axial shrinkage of fuel pellet that accompanies pressure-assisted sintering. To solve this, template SiC powder discs were fabricated to host planes of TRISO particles, and the disks were stacked to form a cylindrical “green” pellet. After sintering, up to ∼34% packing fraction of particles (Vp) was physically feasible without contact between planes. Sintering was shown to reduce the axial displacement between planes of TRISO particles, and X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) showed planes separated by a displacement of ∼100 μm. XCT, optical microscopy and SEM showed the very limited radial displacement of particles. However, the relative density of the FCM pellet was limited to ∼95%. The current results support the zero-rupture concept as viable, but perturbations to TRISO arrangements and limited matrix density require further investigation to improve FCM fuel uniformity and microstructure.

KW - FCM fuel

KW - Inert matrix fuel

KW - Processing

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KW - TRISO

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A logical approach for zero-rupture Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM) fuels via pressure-assisted sintering route

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Keywords

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