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An Evaluation of the Thermophysical Properties of Stoichiometric CeO 2 in Comparison to UO 2 and PuO 2
Author(s) -
Nelson Andrew T.,
Rittman Dylan R.,
White Joshua T.,
Dunwoody John T.,
Kato Masato,
McClellan Kenneth J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/jace.13170
Subject(s) - thermal diffusivity , thermal conductivity , heat capacity , thermodynamics , stoichiometry , materials science , thermal expansion , thermal , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , mineralogy , physics , chromatography
The thermal conductivity of stoichiometric CeO 2 was determined through measurement of thermal expansion from 313 to 1723 K, thermal diffusivity from 298 to 1473 K, and specific heat capacity from 313 to 1373 K. The thermal conductivity was then calculated as the product of the density, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat capacity. The thermal conductivity was found to obey an ( A + BT ) −1 relationship with A = 6.776×10 −2 m·K·W −1 and B = 2.793 × 10 −4 m·W −1 . Extrapolations of applied models were made to provide suggested data for the specific heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity data up to 1723 K. Results of thermal expansion and heat capacity measurements agreed well with the limited low‐temperature data available in the literature. The thermal conductivity values provided in the current study are significantly higher than the only high‐temperature data located for CeO 2 . This is attributed to the tendency of CeO 2 to rapidly reduce at elevated temperatures given the available partial pressure of O 2 in air at ambient pressure. The CeO 2 data are compared to literature values for UO 2 and PuO 2 to evaluate its suitability as a surrogate in nuclear fuel systems where thermal transport is a primary criterion for performance