Electrophoretic deposition of diffusion barrier titanium oxide coatings for nuclear reactor cladding applications

Development of TiO2 diffusion barrier coating by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) has been studied to mitigate fuel-cladding chemical interactions (FCCI). Important EPD deposition parameters, including solvent, additives, particle size and crystal structure, current, and voltage were optimized for coating deposition on flat T91 ferritic steel substrates. Post-deposition sintering in the range of 850–1050 °C was investigated. Diffusion characteristics of the coatings were evaluated by diffusion couple experiments at 575 °C for 100 h using cerium as one of the fission products responsible for FCCI. Results showed that the coated steel exhibited up to 83% reduction in solid state inter-diffusion with cerium. Heat transfer calculations showed that the fuel center-line temperature would increase slightly due to the addition of the TiO2 diffusion barrier coating; however, the maximum temperature still remains well below the melting point of uranium and is even lower than eutectic temperature between Fe2U and Fe2U6 at cladding centerline and cladding/fuel interface, respectively.