A REPORT ON SOME ATTEMPTS TO CAST CENTRIFUGALLY FUEL ELEMENTS OF SMALL DIAMETER

The applicability of the centrifugal casting technique to the production of multiple castings of fuel pins of small diameter and of thin fuel plates was investigated. Fuel pins measuring 0.185 in. in diameter by 4 1/4 in. long of unalloyed uranium and of a uranium-2 wt.% zirconium alloy were cast successfully in batches of sixteen pins per melt. Sixteen different metals and alloys were used as mold materials. Smaller and longer fuel pins, 0.165 in. in diameter by 9 3/4 in. long, of similar compositions were cast successfully in brass and copper molds. Thirty-six pins of the same diameter and length were cast simultaneously in each casting run. Attempts to cast centrifugally thin uranium plates measuring 9 in. long by 2 in. wide by 0.04 in. thick proved to be only partially successful, but encouraging. These plates were cast into graphite molds at the rate of six plates per run. The maximum usable length of the unalloyed uranium plates cast did not exceed six inches. (auth