Thermophysical properties of U₃Si₅ to 1773 K

Possible use of U₃Si₅ as a nuclear reactor fuel requires knowledge of its thermophysical properties as a function of temperature. While limited data is available for U-Si compounds containing higher uranium densities, no investigations of U₃Si₅ have been presented in the literature to date. High purity U₃Si₅ was fabricated to facilitate a set of experiments to determine the coefficient of thermal expansion, heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity from room temperature to 1773 K. Each measurement on nearly stoichiometric U₃Si₅ showed the existence of a phase transformation at 723 K, which is not consistent with the most recently published phase diagram.