Thermoelectric properties of URu2Si2 and U 2Ru3Si5

Since a large amount of depleted uranium and some fission-produced noble metals, such as Ru, Pd and Rh, are discharged in the nuclear fuel cycle, the utilization of these metals is important in the nuclear engineering. As the promising thermoelectric materials, the U-Ru-Si alloys were selected. The thermoelectric power, electrical resistivity and heat capacity of URu₂Si₂ and U₂Ru ₃Si₅ were measured in a temperature range from 300 up to 1100 K. The thermoelectric power of URu₂Si₂ and U₂Ru₃Si₅ were obtained to be -48.9 and -32.8 μV/K at 1100 K, respectively. The temperature dependencies of electrical conductivity of URu₂Si₂ and U₂ Ru₃Si₅ showed metallic behavior. There was no phase transition peak in the heat capacity curves of URu₂Si₂ and U₂Ru₃Si₅