Thermal expansion of PuO

Uchida, Teppei; Sunaoshi, Takeo*; Konashi, Kenji*; Kato, Masato   

Experiment and simulation studies on physical properties of actinide oxides have been carried out. Thermal expansion is important data to evaluate the various properties from molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. In this study, thermal expansion of PuO was evaluated by experiment and MD simulation. In the experimental study, thermal expansion of PuO pellet was determined by a dilatometer in the temperature range of 300-1923 K. In the MD simulation, Born-Mayer-Huggins interatomic potential with a partially ionic model and Morse potential were employed. Lattice constants of PuO were evaluated in the temperature range of 300-2800 K by MD simulation, and thermal expansion was evaluated. The experimental data was good agreement with the MD simulation result. Evaluation formula for thermal expansion of PuO in the temperature range of 300-2800 K was derived from both data.