Further insight into mechanisms of solid-state interactions in UMo/Al system

In this paper, the solid-state interactions between metastable γ-UMo alloys (containing 5, 7 and 10 wt%Mo) and Al, at temperatures ranging from 440 to 600 °C and for ageing times up to 10 h, are studied using the diffusion couple technique and nuclear fuel plate annealing. The reaction product consists of three main zones, two of them presenting a periodic layered morphology. The growth kinetics is limited by solid-state diffusion and Al is the most mobile species. Both growth kinetics and its global energy of activation are similar to that found for the U/Al binary system. The diffusion path is determined and phase equilibrium relations are deduced for the Mo-poor part of the U–Mo–Al metastable ternary phase diagram.