Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
1998 International RERTR Meeting

Improvement of the Homogeneity of Atomized Particles Dispersed
in High Uranium Density Research Reactor Fuels

Chang-Kyu Kim, Ki-Hwan Kim, Jong-Man Park, Yoon-Sang Lee, Don-Bae Lee
Woong-Hee Sohn^* and Soon-Hyung Hong^*

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute
150, Dukjin-dong, Yusong-gu, Taejon 305-353, Korea
^*Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
373-1, Kusong-dong, Yusong-gu, Taejon 305-701, Korea

Abstract

A study on improving the homogeneous dispersion of atomized spherical particles in fuel meats has been performed in connection with the development of high uranium density fuel. In comparing various mixing methods, the better homogeneity of the mixture could be obtained as in order of Spex mill, V-shape tumbler mixer, and off-axis rotating drum mixer. The Spex mill mixer required some laborious work because of its small capacity per batch. Through optimizing the rotating speed parameter for the V-shape tumbler mixer, almost the same homogeneity as with the Spex mill could be obtained. The homogeneity of the extruded fuel meats appeared to improve through extrusion. All extruded fuel meats with U₃Si powder of 50-volume % had fairly smooth surfaces. The homogeneity of fuel meats by V-shaped tumbler mixer revealed to be fairly good on micrographs.