Thermal conductivities of Zr-based transuranium nitride solid solutions

Nishi, Tsuyoshi; Takano, Masahide ; Ichise, Kenichi ; Akabori, Mitsuo; Arai, Yasuo

In this study, we prepared the sintered samples of two kinds of (Zr,Pu,Am)N and (Zr,Np,Pu,Am,Cm)N solid solutions. The thermal diffusivity and heat capacity of Zr-based transuranium nitride solid solutions were measured by a laser flash method and a drop calorimetry, respectively. The thermal conductivities of (Zr,Pu,Am)N and (Zr,Np,Pu,Am,Cm)N were determined from the measured thermal diffusivity, heat capacity and bulk density. It was found that the thermal conductivities of (Zr,Pu,Am)N and (Zr,Np,Pu,Am,Cm)N were higher than that of (Pu,Am)N. It was also found that the thermal conductivities of (Zr,Pu,Am)N and (Zr,Np,Pu,Am,Cm)N obviously increased with temperature in comparison with (Pu,Am)N, although they were smaller than that of ZrN over the temperature range investigated.