Microwave synthesis of solid solutions of urania and thoria - a comparative study

Recently a new route for the production of thoria powder that yields pellets of high density had been communicated, in continuation of this study, the method as applied to the preparation of (U, Th)O-2 powders with various compositions is reported here. The powders were characterised for crystallite size by using XRD and transmission electron microscopy and BET surface area. As observed in the case of thoria, the powders obtained in this study were found to be nanocrystalline. The sinterability of the powder was determined by measuring the density of the sintered pellets prepared from these powders. The sintering was carried out at 1573 K in arson atmosphere. The feasibility of calcining and sintering of the solid solutions by using microwave heating was also studied. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.