Validation of a Thermal Conductivity Measurement System for Fuel Compacts

A high temperature guarded-comparative-longitudinal heat flow measurement system has been built to measure the thermal conductivity of a composite nuclear fuel compact. It is a steady-state measurement device designed to operate over a temperature range of 300 K to 1200 K. No existing apparatus is currently available for obtaining the thermal conductivity of the composite fuel in a non-destructive manner due to the compact’s unique geometry and composite nature. The current system design has been adapted from ASTM E 1225. As a way to simplify the design and operation of the system, it uses a unique radiative heat sink to conduct heat away from the sample column. A finite element analysis was performed on the measurement system to analyze the associated error for various operating conditions. Optimal operational conditions have been discovered through this analysis and results are presented. Several materials have been measured by the system and results are presented for stainless steel 304, inconel 625, and 99.95% pure iron covering a range of thermal conductivities of 10 W/m*K to 70 W/m*K. A comparison of the results has been made to data from existing literature.