Reduction of uranium triiodide to metal by thermal decomposition

Uranium metal was successfully produced from uranium triiodide through thermal decomposition in a tetra-arc crystal furnace. The uranium triiodide was produced by reacting uranium and iodine at 600 °C for 24 h. After the uranium triiodide was heated in the arc furnace, a product was confirmed to be uranium metal through X-ray diffraction, density, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurements. Historically, uranium triiodide has been reduced after passing through a gaseous intermediate of uranium tetraiodide and reduced on a hot filament. This is the first report of directly reducing uranium triiodide to uranium metal, circumventing the uranium tetraiodide intermediary. (author)