Thermal Conductivity Measurement of Xe-Implanted Uranium Dioxide Thick Films using Multilayer Laser Flash Analysis

The Fuel Cycle Research and Development program's Advanced Fuels campaign is currently pursuing use of ion beam assisted deposition to produce uranium dioxide thick films containing xenon in various morphologies. To date, this technique has provided materials of interest for validation of predictive fuel performance codes and to provide insight into the behavior of xenon and other fission gasses under extreme conditions. In addition to the structural data provided by such thick films, it may be possible to couple these materials with multilayer laser flash analysis in order to measure the impact of xenon on thermal transport in uranium dioxide. A number of substrate materials (single crystal silicon carbide, molybdenum, and quartz) containing uranium dioxide films ranging from one to eight microns in thickness were evaluated using multilayer laser flash analysis in order to provide recommendations on the most promising substrates and geometries for further investigation. In general, the uranium dioxide films grown to date using ion beam assisted deposition were all found too thin for accurate measurement. Of the substrates tested, molybdenum performed the best and looks to be the best candidate for further development. Results obtained within this study suggest that the technique does possess the necessary resolution for measurement of uranium dioxide thick films, provided the films are grown in excess of fifty microns. This requirement is congruent with the material needs when viewed from a fundamental standpoint, as this length scale of material is required to adequately sample grain boundaries and possible second phases present in ceramic nuclear fuel.