Elevated temperature microcantilever testing of fresh U-10Mo fuel

Abstract

Proliferation concerns are the driving force to reduce the enrichment of research reactor fuel from highly enriched fuel to lower levels of enriched fuel. One promising fuel alloy that would enable a reduction in enrichment without greatly diminishing fuel performance is Uranium with 10 wt % Molybdenum (U-10 wt-% Mo). While there is a large amount of data available on the microstructure and thermal properties of this new fuel type currently there is insufficient data available on the mechanical properties. Small scale mechanical testing techniques can be used to evaluate the mechanical properties of the as-fabricated U-10 wt% Mo components at their intended operating temperature which should improve the accuracy of the input parameters employed by modelers. In this study the mechanical properties of a U-10 wt% Mo fuel meat sample taken from an as-fabricated fuel plate for a new fuel design were evaluated using in-situ scanning electron microscopy microcantilever testing under varying temperatures between room temperature and 200 °C.