Issue |
EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol.
Volume 2, 2016
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 25 | |
Number of page(s) | 9 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2016018 | |
Published online | 13 May 2016 |
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2016018
Regular Article
Modelling of powder die compaction for press cycle optimization
1 CEA, DEN, DTEC, SDTC, 30207 Bagnols/Cèze, France
2 Champalle Company, 151 rue Ampère, ZI Les Bruyères, 01960 Peronnas, France
⁎ e-mail: jean-philippe.bayle@cea.fr.
Received:
21
September
2015
Received in final form:
16
February
2016
Accepted:
15
March
2016
Published online:
13
May
2016
A new electromechanical press for fuel pellet manufacturing was built last year in partnership between CEA-Marcoule and ChampalleAlcen. This press was developed to shape pellets in a hot cell via remote handling. It has been qualified to show its robustness and to optimize the compaction cycle, thus obtaining a better sintered pellet profile and limiting damage. We will show you how 400 annular pellets have been produced with good geometry's parameters, based on press settings management. These results are according to a good phenomenological pressing knowledge with Finite Element Modeling calculation. Therefore, during die pressing, a modification in the punch displacement sequence induces fluctuation in the axial distribution of frictional forces. The green pellet stress and density gradients are based on these frictional forces between powder and tool, and between grains in the powder, influencing the shape of the pellet after sintering. The pellet shape and diameter tolerances must be minimized to avoid the need for grinding operations. To find the best parameters for the press settings, which enable optimization, FEM calculations were used and different compaction models compared to give the best calculation/physical trial comparisons. These simulations were then used to predict the impact of different parameters when there is a change in the type of powder and the pellet size, or when the behavior of the press changes during the compaction time. In 2016, it is planned to set up the press in a glove box for UO2 manufacturing qualification based on our simulation methodology, before actual hot cell trials in the future.
© J.-P. Bayle et al., published by EDP Sciences, 2016
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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