Design of an instrumented microwave multimode cavity for sintering of nuclear ceramics

This paper describes the development of an innovative instrumented and automated 2.45GHz multimode microwave cavity for sintering uranium oxide based nuclear fuels (UO2, (U,Pu)O2, (U,Am)O2 …). The cell were designed using Finite Element simulation expertise acquired over years on heating. original setup allows hybrid homogeneous heating fuels. Reliable in situ monitoring samples' shrinkage temperature is performed with optical dilatometer infrared pyrometers calibrated a specific protocol. A dedicated software including Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller was developed to precisely control cycles like under conventional also operating glovebox reducing atmosphere. stable controlled reached successfully sinter UO2 crack free pellets high density. key point innovation compared previous studies literature ceramics. pellets' final densities are equivalent those obtained sintering, but significant decrease total duration cycle.