Analysis of the interaction products in U(Mo,X)/Al and U(Mo,X)/Al(Si) diffusion couples, with X = Cr, Ti, Zr

Jérôme Allenou (1, 2) , Hervé Palancher (3) , Xavière Iltis (2) , Olivier Tougait (1) , Houda El Bekkachi (1) , Anne Bonnin (2, 4) , Rémi Tucoulou (4)

1 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes
2 CEA Cadarache
3 DEC - Département d'Etudes des Combustibles
4 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

In the framework of the development of a low 235U enriched nuclear fuel for material testing reactors, γ-U(Mo)/Al based materials are considered as the most interesting prospect. In the process to optimize their composition, addition to both γ-U(Mo) and Al have been proposed. In this paper, the crystallographic composition of Interaction Layers (ILs) in γ-U(Mo,X)/Al and γ-U(Mo,X)/AlSi7 diffusion couples, with X = Cr, Ti, Zr, heat-treated at 600 °C for 2 h, were studied by micro-X-ray diffraction (μ-XRD). When compared to the U(Mo)/Al and U(Mo)/Al(Si) reference systems, all investigated systems involving either Al or Al(Si) as counterparts show interaction products composed of similar phases and related sequences of phase formation. Only relative thicknesses of sub-layers and relative fractions of intermediate phases are correlated with the nature of the X element in the γ-U(Mo,X) alloy. More generally this work shows that γ-U(Mo)/Al and γ-U(Mo)/Al(Si) ILs are now robustly described down to the micrometer scale.

Mots clés: MTR; fuel; uranium; molybdenum; titanium; zirconium; chromium; aluminium; silicon; interaction; XRD; diffusion couple

Domaines: Matériaux

Jérôme Allenou, Hervé Palancher, Xavière Iltis, Olivier Tougait, Houda El Bekkachi, et al.. Analysis of the interaction products in U(Mo,X)/Al and U(Mo,X)/Al(Si) diffusion couples, with X = Cr, Ti, Zr. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2014, 446 (1-3), pp.208-216. ⟨10.1016/j.jnucmat.2013.11.043⟩. ⟨hal-00925706⟩