Preparation method of MAX phase improved uranium dioxide pellet
Technical Field
The invention relates to a preparation method of an MAX phase improved uranium dioxide pellet.
Background
The uranium dioxide pellet has the advantages of high melting point, oxidation resistance, good neutron economy, steam corrosion resistance, good irradiation stability, good compatibility with cladding, good containment of fission gas and the like, and is widely applied to commercial nuclear reactors as nuclear fuel at present. However, the low thermal conductivity of uranium dioxide easily causes the excessive temperature gradient inside the pellet, and further causes the problems of cracking, failure and even contact reaction with cladding of the pellet. In an accident state, the effect is further amplified, the heat in the reactor cannot be dissipated in time, the temperature of the fuel is rapidly increased and even melted, and the cladding material reacts with the water vapor to release hydrogen to cause explosion, thereby causing serious safety accidents. Research shows that if the thermal conductivity of the uranium dioxide pellet is improved by 5-10%, the core temperature of the fuel can be reduced by more than 300 ℃ under the condition of loss of the coolant, so that the improvement of the thermal conductivity of the uranium dioxide pellet is a way for effectively improving the safety of the fuel, and becomes a hotspot problem in the development of fault-tolerant fuels.
The MAX phase material is a generic term for nano ternary layered compounds, and is composed of transition group elements M (Ti, Zr, V, Cr, etc.), main group elements A (Si, Al, etc.), and elements X (C, N, etc.). The general MAX phase formula may be expressed as Mn+1AXnThe values of n in the MAX phases are 1, 2, and 3, and the corresponding MAX phase systems are called MAX phases 211, 312, and 413, respectively. Recently, researchers have found MAX phase systems such as 523-, 725-and 615-series systems. MAX phase by M6X octahedron and A atomic layer are stacked alternately, MAX phase has the characteristics of metal and ceramic, and has high melting point, high heat conductivity, excellent radiation resistance, good toughness, good oxidation resistance, good thermal shock resistance and UO2The thermal expansion coefficients are similar, and the like.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to solve the technical problems and provides a preparation method of an MAX phase improved uranium dioxide pellet, which has the advantages of reasonable design and simpler operation, and the prepared uranium dioxide pellet can further improve the heat conductivity, improve the safety performance of fuel and enhance the capability of a reactor to resist accident conditions on the basis of keeping the original advantages of uranium dioxide.
In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme adopted by the invention is as follows:
a preparation method of an MAX phase improved uranium dioxide pellet is characterized in that uranium dioxide powder and MAX phase powder are directly mixed or granulated and mixed according to a volume ratio of 49-1: 1, the obtained mixture is subjected to atmosphere sintering, hot-pressing sintering or discharge plasma sintering, and the pellet is obtained after the sintering is finished and the material is taken and processed.
Specifically, the uranium dioxide powder235The U enrichment degree is 1-19%, the ratio of oxygen to uranium is 1.95-2.15, and the grain diameter is 1-50 μm.
Specifically, the MAX phase has a particle size of 50nm-40 μm, and the MAX phase is a 312 series compound, a 211 series compound or a 413 series compound; the 312-series compound is Ti3SiC2Or Ti3AlC2。
Preferably, the 211-series compound is Ti2AlC、Ti2AlN and the 413-series compound is Ti4AlC3。
Further, when the material mixing mode is direct material mixing, the operation is as follows: and putting the uranium dioxide powder and the MAX phase powder into a ball milling tank for mixing for 12-24h at the rotation speed of 100-. Wherein, the directly mixed materials can form an MAX phase dispersed tissue structure after sintering.
Further, when the mixing mode is granulation mixing, the operation is as follows: granulating the uranium dioxide powder at the pressure of 200-; and mixing the obtained uranium dioxide particles and MAX phase powder in a ball milling tank for 0.5-3h at the rotating speed of 50-200r/min to ensure that the MAX phase powder is coated on the surface of the uranium dioxide pellets. Wherein, the granulation and mixing materials can form MAX continuously distributed tissue structures after being sintered.
Further, when the sintering mode is atmosphere sintering, the step is that the mixture is molded under the pressure of 100-300MPa to obtain UO2-a MAX phase biscuit; and then placing the biscuit in an atmosphere sintering furnace for sintering, wherein the sintering conditions are set as follows: heating to 1500 ℃ at the speed of 5-10 ℃/min, heating to 1600 ℃ and 1800 ℃ at the speed of 1-5 ℃/min, preserving heat for 1-7h, and finally cooling to below 100 ℃ in a furnace and opening the furnace to take materials; the atmosphere of the sintering process and the cooling process is H2And H is2The flow rate is 0.1-2L/min.
Further, when the sintering mode is hot-press sintering, the step is to load the mixture into a graphite mold, and the sintering conditions are as follows: firstly, heating up to 1450 ℃ at a heating rate of 5-20 ℃/min, and then heating up to 1500-1800 ℃ at a heating rate of 2-10 ℃/min; keeping the temperature for 0.5-2h, cooling the furnace to below 100 ℃, opening the furnace and taking materials; the whole sintering process is applied with a constant pressure of 30-100MPa and is protected by high-purity argon.
Furthermore, when the sintering mode is spark plasma sintering, the step is to put the mixture into a graphite mold, and the sintering conditions are as follows: firstly, heating to 1100 ℃ at the heating rate of 100-; the whole sintering process is applied with a constant pressure of 30-50MPa and is protected by high-purity argon.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:
the invention uses the advantages of excellent irradiation resistance, high heat conduction property, high melting point, thermal expansion coefficient matching with uranium dioxide and the like of the MAX phase for reference, improves the heat conductivity of the uranium dioxide by adding the MAX phase into the uranium dioxide, has the characteristics of high heat conduction, good irradiation resistance, low expansion, high melting point and the like of the improved uranium dioxide pellet, obviously improves the safety performance, and is expected to be applied to commercial water reactors and new-generation nuclear reactors as accident fault-tolerant fuel.
Detailed Description
The present invention is further illustrated by the following examples, which include, but are not limited to, the following examples.
The following examples are all methods for preparing MAX phase modified uranium dioxide pellets.
Example 1
Raw materials: UO2In the powder235The U enrichment degree is 1%, the ratio of oxygen to uranium is 1.95, and the particle size is about 1 mu m; the MAX phase adopts a 312 series compound Ti3SiC2The particle size is about 50 nm;
step one, raw materials are proportioned according to the following mode:
and putting 98% volume fraction uranium dioxide powder and 2% volume fraction MAX phase powder into a ball milling tank to be mixed for 12 hours at the rotating speed of 100 r/min.
Step two, sintering is carried out according to the following mode:
mixing the mixture obtained in the step oneMolding the powder under 100MPa to obtain UO2-MAX phase biscuit, placing the biscuit in an atmosphere sintering furnace for sintering, wherein the temperature process is as follows: firstly, heating to 1500 ℃ at the speed of 5 ℃/min, then heating to 1600 ℃ at the speed of 1 ℃/min, and preserving heat for 7 h; then the furnace is cooled to below 100 ℃ and opened; the sintering process and the cooling process are communicated with H2The flow rate was 0.1L/min.
And step three, processing the sintered blank according to the actual requirements of the reactor to obtain the actual engineering application pellet.
The core block prepared by the method has an organization structure with MAX phases dispersed and distributed, and the thermal conductivity can be improved by 5-10% compared with that of a pure uranium dioxide core block at 1000 ℃.
Example 2
Raw materials: UO2In the powder235The U enrichment degree is 19%, the ratio of oxygen to uranium is 2.15, and the particle size is about 50 mu m; the MAX phase adopts a 312 series compound Ti3AlC2The grain diameter is about 40 mu m;
step one, raw materials are proportioned according to the following mode:
and (3) putting 50% volume fraction uranium dioxide powder and 50% volume fraction MAX phase powder into a ball milling tank to be mixed for 24 hours at the rotating speed of 300 r/min.
Step two, sintering is carried out according to the following mode:
the mixed powder obtained in the step one is subjected to compression molding under the pressure of 300MPa to obtain UO2-MAX phase biscuit. And sintering the biscuit in an atmosphere sintering furnace. The temperature process is as follows: firstly, heating to 1500 ℃ at the speed of 10 ℃/min, then heating to 1800 ℃ at the speed of 5 ℃/min, and keeping the temperature for 1 h; then the furnace is cooled to below 100 ℃ and opened. The sintering process and the cooling process are communicated with H2The flow rate was 2L/min.
And step three, processing the sintered blank according to the actual requirements of the reactor to obtain the actual engineering application pellet.
The core block prepared by the method has an organization structure with dispersed MAX phases, and the thermal conductivity can be improved by 70-80% compared with that of a pure uranium dioxide core block at 1000 ℃.
Example 3
Raw materials: UO2In the powder235The U enrichment degree is 4.95%, the ratio of oxygen to uranium is 2.02, and the particle size is about 5 mu m; 211-series compound Ti is adopted as MAX phase2AlC with the particle size of about 5 mu m;
step one, raw materials are proportioned according to the following mode:
and (2) carrying out compression molding on the uranium dioxide powder under 200MPa, sieving by a 50-mesh sieve, carrying out self-grinding spheroidization in a ball-milling tank for 6 hours at the rotating speed of 100r/min, mixing the obtained uranium dioxide particles and MAX phase powder in the ball-milling tank for 0.5 hour at the volume ratio of 98:2, and coating the MAX phase powder on the surface of the uranium dioxide pellet at the rotating speed of 50 r/min.
Step two, sintering is carried out according to the following mode:
and (4) putting the mixed powder obtained in the step one into a graphite die, and performing hot-pressing sintering. The sintering process comprises the following steps: firstly, heating to 1450 ℃ at a heating rate of 5 ℃/min, and then heating to 1500 ℃ at a heating rate of 2 ℃/min; keeping the temperature for 2 hours, cooling the furnace to below 100 ℃, and opening the furnace; the whole sintering process is applied with a constant pressure of 100MPa and protected by high-purity argon.
And step three, processing the sintered blank according to the actual requirements of the reactor to obtain the actual engineering application pellet.
The pellet prepared by the method has an organization structure with MAX phases distributed continuously, and the thermal conductivity can be improved by 8-12% compared with that of a pure uranium dioxide pellet at 1000 ℃.
Example 4
Raw materials: UO2In the powder235The U enrichment degree is 10%, the ratio of oxygen to uranium is 2.00, and the particle size is about 10 mu m; 211-series compound Ti is adopted as MAX phase2AlN, the grain size is about 10 mu m;
step one, raw materials are proportioned according to the following mode:
and (2) carrying out compression molding on the uranium dioxide powder under 600MPa, sieving by a 20-mesh sieve, carrying out self-grinding spheroidization in a ball-milling tank for 12 hours at the rotating speed of 300r/min, mixing the obtained uranium dioxide particles and MAX phase powder in the ball-milling tank for 3 hours at the volume ratio of 50:50, and coating the MAX phase powder on the surface of the uranium dioxide pellet at the rotating speed of 200 r/min.
Step two, sintering is carried out according to the following mode:
and (4) putting the mixed powder obtained in the step one into a graphite die, and performing hot-pressing sintering. The sintering process comprises the following steps: firstly, heating to 1450 ℃ at a heating rate of 20 ℃/min, and then heating to 1800 ℃ at a heating rate of 10 ℃/min; keeping the temperature for 0.5, cooling the furnace to below 100 ℃, and opening the furnace; the whole sintering process is applied with a constant pressure of 30MPa and protected by high-purity argon.
And step three, processing the sintered blank according to the actual requirements of the reactor to obtain the actual engineering application pellet.
The pellet prepared by the method has an organization structure with MAX phases distributed continuously, and the thermal conductivity can be improved by 90-100% compared with that of a pure uranium dioxide pellet at 1000 ℃.
Example 5
Raw materials: UO2In the powder235The U enrichment degree is 2%, the ratio of oxygen to uranium is 1.98, and the particle size is about 20 mu m; the MAX phase adopts 413 series compound such as Ti4AlC3The grain diameter is about 40 mu m;
step one, raw materials are proportioned according to the following mode:
and (2) carrying out compression molding on the uranium dioxide powder under 200MPa, sieving by a 50-mesh sieve, carrying out self-grinding spheroidization in a ball-milling tank for 6 hours at the rotating speed of 100r/min, mixing the obtained uranium dioxide particles and MAX phase powder in the ball-milling tank for 0.5 hour at the volume ratio of 90:10, and coating the MAX phase powder on the surface of the uranium dioxide pellet at the rotating speed of 50 r/min.
Step two, sintering is carried out according to the following mode:
and (2) putting the mixed powder obtained in the step one into a graphite die to carry out spark plasma sintering, wherein the sintering process is as follows: firstly heating to 1100 ℃ at a heating rate of 100 ℃/min, then heating to 1200 ℃ at a heating rate of 50 ℃/min, preserving heat for 30min, and then cooling to below 100 ℃ and opening the furnace. The whole sintering process is applied with a constant pressure of 50MPa and protected by high-purity argon.
And step three, processing the sintered blank according to the actual requirements of the reactor to obtain the actual engineering application pellet.
The pellet prepared by the method has an organization structure with MAX phases distributed continuously, and the thermal conductivity can be improved by 40-50% compared with that of a pure uranium dioxide pellet at 1000 ℃.
Example 6
Raw materials: UO2In the powder235The U enrichment degree is 4.95%, the ratio of oxygen to uranium is 2.13, and the particle size is about 10 mu m; 211-series compound Ti is adopted as MAX phase2AlC with the grain diameter of about 15 mu m;
step one, raw materials are proportioned according to the following mode:
and (2) carrying out compression molding on the uranium dioxide powder under 200MPa, sieving by a 50-mesh sieve, carrying out self-grinding spheroidization in a ball-milling tank for 6 hours at the rotating speed of 100r/min, mixing the obtained uranium dioxide particles and MAX phase powder in the ball-milling tank for 0.5 hour at the volume ratio of 95:5, and coating the MAX phase powder on the surface of the uranium dioxide pellet at the rotating speed of 50 r/min.
Step two, sintering is carried out according to the following mode:
and (2) putting the mixed powder obtained in the step one into a graphite die to carry out spark plasma sintering, wherein the sintering process is as follows: firstly heating to 1100 ℃ at a heating rate of 200 ℃/min, then heating to 1600 ℃ at a heating rate of 100 ℃/min, preserving heat for 1min, and then cooling to below 100 ℃ and opening the furnace. The whole sintering process is applied with a constant pressure of 30MPa and protected by high-purity argon.
And step three, processing the sintered blank according to the actual requirements of the reactor to obtain the actual engineering application pellet.
The pellet prepared by the method has an organization structure with MAX phases distributed continuously, and the thermal conductivity can be improved by 20-250% compared with that of a pure uranium dioxide pellet at 1000 ℃.
It is obvious from the above embodiments that the specific thermal conductivity of the uranium dioxide pellet prepared by the method of the present invention is improved to different degrees under the raw materials and corresponding parameters set by the present invention, and the more the MAX phase is added, the more the thermal conductivity is improved, that is, the thermal conductivity of the uranium dioxide pellet can be obviously improved by adding the MAX phase to the uranium dioxide, so that the safety of the uranium dioxide pellet is improved while the excellent characteristics of the uranium dioxide pellet are maintained.
The above-mentioned embodiment is only one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and should not be used to limit the scope of the present invention, but all the insubstantial modifications or changes made within the spirit and scope of the main design of the present invention, which still solve the technical problems consistent with the present invention, should be included in the scope of the present invention.