An investigation on the green properties of U-10wt.%Mo/Al and U3Si2/Al powder compacts

The effects of fuel powder volume fraction and fuel particle shape on green properties of compacts, which were produced by processing the blended U-10wt.%Mo and U3Si2 with Al powders were investigated respectively, with respective to the compacting pressure range of 50-400 MPa. The relative density of the compacts increases with decreasing volume fraction of fuel powder. The compressibility of comminuted powder compacts was larger than that of the atomized powder compacts due to the fragmentation of comminuted particles, and the compressibility of the compacts of U-10wt.%Mo was larger than that of the compacts of U3Si2 due to the deformation of U-10wt.%Mo particles. The green strength of the comminuted powder compacts is higher than that of the atomized powder compact. This seems to have resulted from the smaller pore size and the larger contact area between the comminuted fuel powders and Al powders. It is suggested that the compacting condition adjustment be required to fabricate the atomized powder compacts having comparable green strength.