URANIUM METAL POWDER PRODUCTION, PARTICLE DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS, AND REACTION RATE STUDIES OF A HYDRIDE-DEHYDRIDE PROCESS

Abstract

Work was done to study a hydride-dehydride method for producing uranium metal powder. Particle distribution analysis was conducted using digital microscopy and grayscale image analysis software. The particle size was found to be predominantly in the 40 μm range, which agreed with previous work. The effects of temperature, pressure, and time on the reaction fraction of powder were measured by taking experimental data. The optimum hydride temperature for the system was found to be 233.4°C. Higher gas pressures resulted in higher reaction fractions, over the range studied. For the sample parameters studied, a time of 371 minutes was calculated to achieve complete powderization. System design parameters for commercialization are proposed.