Thermal diffusivity measurement of (U, Pu)O at high temperatures up to 2190 K

Morimoto, Kyoichi ; Kato, Masato   ; Ogasawara, Masahiro*

In this study, measurement was conducted for the sliced MOX pellets containing 30% of Pu prepared by a conventional powder metallurgy technology. Oxygen-to-metal (O/M) ratios of the samples were adjusted in the range from 1.92 to 2.00. The thermal diffusivities of these samples were measured at temperature up to 2150 K with the laser flash method. Thermal diffusivities of the near-stoichiometric samples obtained in the cooling process were greatly lower than those in the heating process unlike measurement below 1770 K. On the other hand, they were almost identical for the sample of 1.946 in O/M. It was also shown that thermal diffusivity decreased with the temperature but increased with the O/M.