About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2024 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
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Symposium
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Ceramics and Ceramic-based Composites for Nuclear Fission Applications
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Presentation Title |
Thermophysical Properties of Solid Solution Carbide Fuels for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion |
Author(s) |
Scarlett Widgeon Paisner, Erofili Kardoulaki, Adrian Gonzales, Joseph C Schaeperkoetter, Darrin Byler, Joshua T White, Jhonathan Rosales, Kenneth J McClellan |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Scarlett Widgeon Paisner |
Abstract Scope |
Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) is being explored as a source to power a manned mission to Mars. The requirements for a nuclear fuel for this purpose include high temperature stability up to 3000 K, high thermal conductivity, and the ability to withstand a hydrogen environment at operating temperatures. Solid solution carbides (U,Zr)C have been considered for NTP nuclear fuels due to the high melt point beyond 3500 K. This talk will present results of the thermophysical properties of (UxZr1-x)C fuels, where 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.3. The thermal conductivity was calculated using the experimentally determined density, thermal expansion, thermal diffusivity, and heat capacity as a function of temperature. The results show that higher Zr loadings lead to improved thermal conductivity, as is estimated using the rule of mixtures approximation. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
Keywords |
Ceramics, Characterization, High-Temperature Materials |