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Highlights: [•] Li2TiO3 with excess Li (Li2+x TiO3+y ) was developed as an advanced tritium breeder. [•] Pebble fabrication by the sol–gel method is a promising technique for the mass production of advanced tritium breeder pebbles. [•] To increase the density of the sintered Li2+x TiO3+y pebbles, the sintering temperature was changed. [•] At 1353K, the density of the pebbles increased to approximately 85% T.D. without any increase in the grain size. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Li 2 TiO 3 with excess Li was developed as an advanced tritium breeder material for fusion reactors. To improve tritium release performance, the breeder pebbles should have a uniform microstructure with small grains. In this work, Li-rich Li 2 TiO 3 ceramic pebbles were fabricated by an efficient spraying-rolling method and were sintered under air and vacuum atmospheres. Results show that the powder calcination temperature has a significant influence on crush load but negligible effect on grain growth. Excess Li 2 CO 3 in pebbles was not just a lithium source to form the Li-rich phase, but also an effective sintering aid to improve sinterability. Small-grained pebbles with dense and homogeneous structure could be obtained by sintering at a low temperature of 1123 K in air. However, when sintered in vacuum, the pebbles exhibit a porous microstructure with very low crush strength. It is indicated that sintering in air is more suitable for the fabrication of Li-rich Li 2 TiO 3 ceramic pebbles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]