Determination of thermal expansion, defect formation energy, and defect-induced strain of alpha-U via ab initio molecular dynamics
Uranium (U) is often alloyed with molybdenum (Mo) or zirconium (Zr) in order to stabilize its high- temperature body-centered cubic phase for use in nuclear reactors. However, in all metallic fuel forms, the a phase of U remains in some fraction. This phase decomposition due to temperature or compositional variance can play an outsized role […]
The impact of anisotropic thermal expansion on the isothermal annealing of polycrystalline a-uranium
Although grain growth impacts microstructural evolution in a wide variety of materials systems, the effect of anisotropic thermal expansion on grain boundary mobility and texture evolution has not been widely studied. Anisotropic thermal expansion occurs in multiple non-cubic metals, and the thermomechanical processing behavior of these materials can be better understood with further study into […]