Thermophysical properties of U3Si5 to 1773 K

Abstract Possible use of U 3 Si 5 as a nuclear reactor fuel requires knowledge of its thermophysical properties as a function of temperature. While limited data is available for U–Si compounds containing higher uranium densities, no investigations of U 3 Si 5 have been presented in the literature to date. High purity U 3 Si 5 was fabricated to facilitate a set of experiments to determine the coefficient of thermal expansion, heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity from room temperature to 1773 K. Each measurement on nearly stoichiometric U 3 Si 5 showed the existence of a phase transformation at 723 K, which is not consistent with the most recently published phase diagram.