Synthesis of uranium nitride by a mechanically induced gas–solid reaction

A high energy, low-temperature, ball-milling route was used to directly produce uranium nitride. Pure uranium metal particles (∼100 μm) were ball milled under a 420 kPa nitrogen atmosphere for 24 h at ambient temperature to yield phase pure U2N3 powder as confirmed by X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The median particle size was measured to be approximately 6 μm.