TY - JOUR

T1 - Influence of boron isotope ratio on the thermal conductivity of uranium diboride (UB2) and zirconium diboride (ZrB2)

AU - Evitts, Lee

AU - Middleburgh, Simon

AU - Kardoulaki, Erofili

AU - Ipatova, Iuliia

AU - Rushton, Michael

AU - Lee, Bill

PY - 2020/1

Y1 - 2020/1

N2 - Uranium diboride is being proposed as an accident tolerant fuel (either as a part of a composite or a 11B enriched monolithic fuel pellet), while zirconium diboride is often selected as a burnable absorber in conjunction with uranium dioxide fuel pellets. It is therefore important to understand the thermal properties of these materials and examine methods in which they may be improved. The thermal conductivity of UB2 and ZrB2 is calculated through atomic scale modelling methods. It was found that the boron-isotope ratio has a significant impact on the thermal conductivity of ZrB2, but is negligible for UB2 due to the large electron-phonon scattering.

AB - Uranium diboride is being proposed as an accident tolerant fuel (either as a part of a composite or a 11B enriched monolithic fuel pellet), while zirconium diboride is often selected as a burnable absorber in conjunction with uranium dioxide fuel pellets. It is therefore important to understand the thermal properties of these materials and examine methods in which they may be improved. The thermal conductivity of UB2 and ZrB2 is calculated through atomic scale modelling methods. It was found that the boron-isotope ratio has a significant impact on the thermal conductivity of ZrB2, but is negligible for UB2 due to the large electron-phonon scattering.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151892

DO - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151892

M3 - Article

VL - 528

JO - Journal of Nuclear Materials

JF - Journal of Nuclear Materials

SN - 0022-3115

M1 - 151892

ER -