Neutron diffraction study of U–10 wt% Mo alloy

Abstract

The structural properties of a U–10 wt% Mo powder sample prepared by the centrifugal atomization method were investigated by the Rietveld total profile analysis method. The high resolution neutron powder diffractometer at the HANARO research reactor in Taejon, Korea, was used for a series of neutron diffraction pattern measurements for the study. The sample was synthesized by the centrifugal atomization method and was found to consist of two γ-U solid solution phases having identical bcc structures, but slightly different lattice dimensions, and accordingly different Mo content. When the sample was annealed for 10 h at 600°C, the two solid solution phases with different Mo contents merged into a uniform single phased γ-U solid solution. The diffraction pattern of the annealed sample showed two additional weak reflections, which could be indexed as a super lattice structure U 3Mo derived from the bcc cell by a /1 1 0/−1 1 0/0 0 1/ type lattice transformation. The disorder–order phase transition leading to the formation of ordered metastable phase U 3Mo should be of the first-order.