Effects of sintering conditions on the microstructure of Li2TiO3 tritium breeding materials

• Published in: Fusion engineering and design 2020-07, Vol.156, p.111727, Article 111727
• Main Authors: Kim, Jong-Il, Park, Yi-Hyun, Ahn, Mu-Young, Kishimoto, Hirotatsu, Lee, Youngmin, Cho, Seungyon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Breeder reactors; Breeding blanket; Grain growth; Grain size; Heating rate; Li2TiO3 pebbles; Lithium; Microstructure; Sintering; Sintering (powder metallurgy); Sintering conditions; Tritium; Tritium breeding materials; Wetting
• ISSN: 0920-3796; 1873-7196
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2020.111727

•Li2TiO3 pebbles are fabricated by slurry droplet wetting method with nano-powder.•Fabricated green pebbles are sintered with various sintering conditions.•Microstructure of sintered Li2TiO3 pebbles was exceptionally homogeneous.•Suitable sintering conditions for high-quality Li2TiO3 pebbles were summarized. Lithium meta-titanate (Li2TiO3) have been proposed as candidate breeder materials for fusion breeding blankets. For the efficient tritium release, the breeder materials are recommended to have homogeneous microstructure with small grain sizes which can be strongly affected by the sintering conditions such as temperature, heating rate, atmosphere and so on. The Li2TiO3 pebbles were fabricated by the slurry droplet wetting method with nano-powder. In this study, the effects of sintering conditions on the microstructure of sintered pebbles were investigated. Phase analysis and morphological observation were carried out by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy, respectively. The grain growth is strongly affected by the increasing temperature and heating rate. The sintering temperature of 900  °C and 10  °C/min were optimal condition for small grain size.