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A Study of a Surrogate Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Fuel Element
D.S. Tucker, A. Preston, N. Jered, A. Cunningham
Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401
received March 8, 2023, received in revised form May 11, 2023, accepted May 23, 2023
Vol. 14, No. 2, Pages 49-54 DOI: 10.4416/JCST2023-00001
Abstract
A surrogate fuel, zirconium carbide/titanium nitride, has been prepared using a simple method to obtain a more uniform distribution of titanium nitride in the zirconium carbide matrix. Powders were sintered using spark plasma sintering at 2 023 K and 2 123 K using a modified sintering profile. This resulted in a fairly uniform distribution of titanium nitride in the zirconium carbide matrix with a density of 95 % of theoretical at 2 123 K. Scanning electron microscopy, indentation hardness and X-ray diffraction results are given.
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Keywords
Carbide, nitride, spark plasma sintering, X-ray diffraction, propulsion fuel element
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Copyright
Göller Verlag GmbH
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the NASA Space Nuclear Project for funding this study.
