rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Characterization of thermal properties of depleted uranium metal microspheres
  name:
    name part: Humrickhouse, Carissa.
    role:
      role term: creator
  name:
    name part: McDeavitt, Sean M.
    role:
      role term: thesis advisor.
  type of resource: text
  genre: bibliography
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: txu
    date issued: 2012
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: remote
    extent: 1 online resource.
  abstract: Nuclear fuel comes in many forms; oxide fuel is the most commonly used in current reactor systems while metal fuel is a promising fuel type for future reactors due to neutronic performance and increased thermal conductivity. As a key heat transfer parameter, thermal conductivity describes the heat transport properties of a material based upon the density, specific heat, and thermal diffusivity. A material's ability to transport thermal energy through its structure is a measurable property known as thermal diffusivity; the units for thermal diffusivity are given in area per unit time (e.g., m2/s). Current measurement methods for thermal diffusivity include LASER (or light) Flash Analysis and the hot-wire method. This study examines an approach that combines these previous two methods to characterize the diffusivity of a packed bed of microspheres of depleted uranium (DU) metal, which have a nominal diameter of 250 micrometers. The new apparatus is designated as the Crucible Heater Test Assembly (CHTA), and it induces a radial transient across a packed sample of microspheres then monitors the temperature profile using an array of thermocouples located at different distances from the source of the thermal transient. From the thermocouple data and an accurate time log, the thermal diffusivity of the sample may be calculated. Results indicate that DU microspheres have very low thermal conductivity, relative to solid uranium metal, and rapidly form an oxidation layer. At 500°C, the thermal conductivity of the DU microspheres was 0.431 +/- 13% W/m-K compared to approximately 32 W/m-K for solid uranium metal. Characterization of the developed apparatus revealed a method that may be useful for measuring the thermal diffusivity of powders and liquids.
  note: by Carissa Joy Humrickhouse.
  note: "Major Subject: Nuclear Engineering"
  note: Electronic resource.
  note: Master of Science Texas A&M University 2012 http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2012-05-10979
  note: Includes bibliographical references.
  note: Text (Thesis)
  subject:
    topic: Major Nuclear Engineering
  subject:
    topic: Nuclear fuel
  subject:
    topic: microspheres
  subject:
    topic: Thermal conductivity
  subject:
    topic: Laser Flash Analysis
  subject:
    topic: Travelling Wave Reactor
  subject:
    topic: uranium metal
  subject:
    topic: sphere-pac
  subject:
    topic: Thermal diffusivity
  identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2012-05-10979
  record info:
    record content source: TXA
    record creation date: 120810
    record change date: 20150922110947.0
    record identifier: in00002768378