Rights statement: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Progress in Nuclear Energy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Progress in Nuclear Energy, 142, 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.103995
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Diffusion in hypo-stoichiometric uranium mononitride
AU - Li, Jade
AU - Murphy, Samuel
N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Progress in Nuclear Energy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Progress in Nuclear Energy, 142, 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.103995
PY - 2021/12/31
Y1 - 2021/12/31
N2 - Uranium nitride is a nuclear fuel of interest as it offers enhanced accident tolerance, owing to its intrinsic properties. Before UN can be deployed commercially it is essential to understand its properties and how they evolve during operation. Therefore, molecular dynamics has been employed to study the thermal expansion and diffusivity of the intrinsic species in UN and how these change with stoichiometry. The introduction of hypostoichiometry as either nitrogen antisites or nitrogen vacancy defects is predicted to lead to an increase in nitrogen diffusivity and a concomitant decrease in the activation energy. The activation energies predicted for nitrogen diffusion in hypostoichiometry samples containing antisite defects are shown to offer a very close agreement with experimental observations.
AB - Uranium nitride is a nuclear fuel of interest as it offers enhanced accident tolerance, owing to its intrinsic properties. Before UN can be deployed commercially it is essential to understand its properties and how they evolve during operation. Therefore, molecular dynamics has been employed to study the thermal expansion and diffusivity of the intrinsic species in UN and how these change with stoichiometry. The introduction of hypostoichiometry as either nitrogen antisites or nitrogen vacancy defects is predicted to lead to an increase in nitrogen diffusivity and a concomitant decrease in the activation energy. The activation energies predicted for nitrogen diffusion in hypostoichiometry samples containing antisite defects are shown to offer a very close agreement with experimental observations.
KW - Diffusion
KW - Molecular dynamics
KW - Uranium mononitride
U2 - 10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.103995
DO - 10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.103995
M3 - Journal article
VL - 142
JO - Progress in Nuclear Energy
JF - Progress in Nuclear Energy
SN - 0149-1970
M1 - 103995
ER -