Uranium iron alloys

J. Bloch, Effect of neutron irradiation of uranium-iron alloys dilute in iron, J. Nuclear Mater. 6 (1962) 203-212. 

Uranium Short-term tests indicate that the practical upper limit for niobium as a container material for uranium is about 1 400°C . Niobium is dissolved in a uranium-bismuth alloy in less than lOOh at a temperature of 800°C". Uranium eutectics with iron, manganese or nickel, corroded niobium at 800°C and 1 000°C It is significantly attacked by uranium-chromium at 1 000°C . 

In the United States the alloy Inor 8 or Hastelloy N (Ni-16Mo-7Cr-5Fe) has been developed as a container material for molten fluorides containing uranium. The nickel-chromium-iron alloy originally considered as a suit-... 

As the third most abundant metal in Earths crust, calcium is widespread in a large number of mineral deposits, relatively inexpensive to recover, and useful in a number of applications. In industry, calcium is used in the refining of metals like lead, aluminum, zirconium, and uranium. Calcium alloyed with iron in steel production reduces surface defects. When alloyed with lead in the manufacture of maintenance-free automobile batteries, it increases battery life. The metal is also used to produce vitamin B5, calcium pantothenate. 

While almost all the mathematical models for gas-solid reaction systems are based on the assumption of first-order kinetics, in many instances the Langmuir-Hinshelwood type rate expression provides a more realistic description of the system, especially over a wide range of reactant concentrations. Examples of gas-solid reactions that have been found to follow a Langmuir-Hinshelwood type kinetics include the reduction of iron oxides by hydrogen [52, 53], the reduction of nickel oxide by hydrogen [54], the oxidation of uranium-carbon alloys [55], and the reaction of carbon with various gases [2]. 

Sihca is reduced to siUcon at 1300—1400°C by hydrogen, carbon, and a variety of metallic elements. Gaseous siUcon monoxide is also formed. At pressures of >40 MPa (400 atm), in the presence of aluminum and aluminum haUdes, siUca can be converted to silane in high yields by reaction with hydrogen (15). SiUcon itself is not hydrogenated under these conditions. The formation of siUcon by reduction of siUca with carbon is important in the technical preparation of the element and its alloys and in the preparation of siUcon carbide in the electric furnace. Reduction with lithium and sodium occurs at 200—250°C, with the formation of metal oxide and siUcate. At 800—900°C, siUca is reduced by calcium, magnesium, and aluminum. Other metals reported to reduce siUca to the element include manganese, iron, niobium, uranium, lanthanum, cerium, and neodymium (16). 

A mercury cathode finds widespread application for separations by constant current electrolysis. The most important use is the separation of the alkali and alkaline-earth metals, Al, Be, Mg, Ta, V, Zr, W, U, and the lanthanides from such elements as Fe, Cr, Ni, Co, Zn, Mo, Cd, Cu, Sn, Bi, Ag, Ge, Pd, Pt, Au, Rh, Ir, and Tl, which can, under suitable conditions, be deposited on a mercury cathode. The method is therefore of particular value for the determination of Al, etc., in steels and alloys it is also applied in the separation of iron from such elements as titanium, vanadium, and uranium. In an uncontrolled constant-current electrolysis in an acid medium the cathode potential is limited by the potential at which hydrogen ion is reduced the overpotential of hydrogen on mercury is high (about 0.8 volt), and consequently more metals are deposited from an acid solution at a mercury cathode than with a platinum cathode.10... 

In substitutional metallic solid solutions and in liquid alloys the experimental data have been described by Epstein and Paskin (1967) in terms of a predominant frictional force which leads to the accumulation of one species towards the anode. The relative movement of metallic ion cores in an alloy phase is related to the scattering cross-section for the conduction electrons, which in turn can be correlated with the relative resistance of the pure metals. Thus iron, which has a higher specific resistance than copper, will accumulate towards the anode in a Cu-Fe alloy. Similarly in a germanium-lithium alloy, the solute lithium atoms accumulate towards the cathode. In liquid alloys the same qualitative effect is observed, thus magnesium accumulates near the cathode in solution in bismuth, while uranium, which is in a higher Group of the Periodic Table than bismuth, accumulated near the anode in the same solvent. 

CSC atomization was developed by AEA Harwell Laboratories in the UK in the early 1970 s. Initially, the CSC process was used for the atomization of refractory and oxide materials such as alumina, plutonium oxides, and uranium monocarbide in nuclear fuel applications. Since it is well-suited to the atomization of reactive metals/alloys or those subject to segregation, the CSC process has been applied to a variety of materials such as iron, cobalt, nickel, and titanium alloys and many refractory metals. The process also has potential to scale up to a continuous process. 

Alloys of reactive metals are often more pyrophoric than the parent metals. Examples are alloys of titanium with zirconium thorium with copper, silver or gold uranium with tin, lead or gold magnesium with aluminium hafnium with iron [1], Cerium amalgams and thorium-silver alloys are spontaneously flammable when dry [2], Individually indexed alloys are ... 

Electrometric Methods have been applied for the estimation of vanadium alone and alloyed with other metals, e.g. iron, chromium, uranium. The reduced solution is either gradually oxidised by means of a suitable oxidising agent (potassium permanganate, ammonium persulphate, nitric acid), or the vanadate solution is gradually reduced with ferrous sulphate solution the changes in the E.M.F. of a suitable cell indicate the end point.8... 

In PWRs, the fuel is U02, enriched typically to 3.3% 235U while for BWRs, the fuel is U02, enriched to 2.6%. (Natural uranium is 0.72% 235U). The fuel elements are clad in Zircaloy, a zirconium alloy that includes tin, iron, chromium, and nickel that prevents fission product release and protects them against corrosion by the coolant. The control rod material in BWRs is B4C, while PWRs have Ag-In-Cd or Hf control materials. 

The core of the bullet can be made from a variety of materials lead is by far the most common because of its high density and the fact that it is cheap, readily obtained, and easy to fabricate. But copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, steel (sometimes hardened by heat treatment), depleted uranium, zinc, iron, tungsten, rubber, and various plastics may also be encountered. (When most of the fissile radioactive isotopes of uranium are removed from natural uranium, the residue is called depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is 67% denser than lead, and it is an ideal bullet material and is very effective in an armor-piercing role, both in small arms and larger munitions components. Because of its residual radioactivity its use is controversial.) Bullets with a lead core and a copper alloy jacket are by far the most common. 

Armor-piercing (AP) ammunition has a projectile or projectile core constructed entirely from a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium. The most effective AP bullets are usually confined to rifle bullets, as velocity and range are important factors in AP requirements. Some revolver and pistol ammunition is described as metal piercing but, although it would be effective against vehicle bodywork and some body armor, it would be ineffective against heavy armor plate. AP bullets are, with very few exceptions, jacketed. 

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