Interdiffusion and reaction between uranium and iron

Metallic uranium alloy fuels cladded in stainless steel are being examined for fast reactors that operate at high temperature. In this work, solid-to-solid diffusion couples were assembled between pure U and Fe, and annealed at 853 K, 888 K and 923 K where U exists as orthorhombic α, and at 953 K and 973 K where U exists as tetragonal β. The microstructures and concentration profiles developed during annealing were examined by scanning electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis, respectively. U6Fe and UFe2 intermetallics developed in all diffusion couples, and U6Fe was observed to grow faster than UFe2. The interdiffusion fluxes of U and Fe were calculated to determine the integrated interdiffusion coefficients in U6Fe and UFe2. The extrinsic (KI) and intrinsic growth constants (KII) of U6Fe and UFe2 were also calculated according to Wagner’s formalism. The difference between KI and KII of UFe2 indicate that its growth was impeded by the fast-growing U6Fe phase. However, the thin UFe2 played only a small role on the growth of U6Fe as its KI and KII values were determined to be similar. The allotropic transformation of uranium (orthorhombic α to tetragonal β phase) was observed to influence the growth of U6Fe directly, because the growth rate of U6Fe changed based on variation of activation energy. The change in chemical potential and crystal structure of U due to the allotropic transformation affected the interdiffusion between U and U6Fe. Faster growth of U6Fe is also examined with respect to various factors including crystal structure, phase diagram, and diffusion.