Mechanical and thermal properties of ZrSiO4

In order to conduct defueling operations for the decommissioning of the reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, an understanding of the physical properties of ZrSiO 4 is of extreme importance. ZrSiO 4 appears to have formed in the molten core-concrete interaction products at the Fukush...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of nuclear science and technology 2017-11, Vol.54 (11), p.1267-1273
Main Authors: Nakamori, Fumihiro, Ohishi, Yuji, Muta, Hiroaki, Kurosaki, Ken, Fukumoto, Ken-ichi, Yamanaka, Shinsuke
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alloys
Bulk density
Cladding
Diamond pyramid hardness
Disaster management
elastic modulus
Electric power plants
Fracture toughness
Fuel debris
Heat treating
Heat treatment
MCCI products
Mechanical properties
mechanical property
Nuclear electric power generation
Nuclear power
Nuclear power plants
Physical properties
Plasma sintering
Porosity
Spark plasma sintering
Theoretical density
thermal conductivity Vickers hardness
Thermal diffusivity
thermal property
Thermodynamic properties
Zircaloys (trademark)
zircon
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Summary:In order to conduct defueling operations for the decommissioning of the reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, an understanding of the physical properties of ZrSiO 4 is of extreme importance. ZrSiO 4 appears to have formed in the molten core-concrete interaction products at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster site through a reaction between Zircaloy cladding materials and concrete. Since ZrSiO 4 has a high melting point of 2550 K, together with chemical inertness, the material has been widely studied as a refractory material. Various studies on the physical properties of ZrSiO 4 have been performed; however, significant differences exist in the data, possibly due to the porosity within the studied samples. In the present study, we have prepared a ZrSiO 4 bulk sample with 97.4% of the theoretical density by spark plasma sintering of the ZrSiO 4 powder and heat treatment. We have evaluated the thermal and mechanical properties of ZrSiO 4 by the measurement of sound velocities, thermal diffusivity, Vickers hardness, and fracture toughness. The Vickers hardness and fracture toughness were found to be 17 ± 3 GPa and 2.1 ± 0.5 MPa m 1/2 , respectively.
ISSN:0022-3131
1881-1248
DOI:10.1080/00223131.2017.1359117