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Effects of heating rate, quartz particle size, viscosity, and form of glass additives on high‐level waste melter feed volume expansion
Author(s) -
Lee SeungMin,
VanderVeer Bradley J.,
Hrma Pavel,
Hilliard Zachary J.,
HeilmanMoore Jayven S.,
Bonham Charles C.,
Pokorny Richard,
Dixon Derek R.,
Schweiger Michael J.,
Kruger Albert A.
Publication year - 2017
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.14629
Subject(s) - frit , volume (thermodynamics) , materials science , pellets , viscosity , quartz , shrinkage , particle size , mixing (physics) , composite material , glass recycling , borosilicate glass , particle (ecology) , thermal expansion , mineralogy , chemical engineering , chemistry , thermodynamics , oceanography , physics , engineering , geology , quantum mechanics
Nuclear waste can be vitrified by mixing it with glass‐forming and ‐modifying additives. The resulting feed is charged into an electric glass melter. To comprehend melting behavior of a high‐alumina melter feed, we monitored the volume expansion of pellets in response to heating at different heating rates. The feeds were prepared with different particle sizes of quartz (the major additive component) and with varied silica‐to‐fluxes ratio to investigate the glass melt viscosity effects. Also, we used additional melter feeds with additives premelted into glass frit. The volume of pellets was nearly constant at temperatures <600°C. After a short period of volume shrinkage at ~600°C‐700°C, foam generation produced massive volume expansion. The low heat conductivity of foam hinders the transfer of heat from molten glass to the reacting feed. The extent of foaming increased with faster heating and higher melt viscosity, and decreased with increasing size of quartz particles and fritting of the additives. Volume expansion data are needed for the mathematical modeling of the cold cap.