Characteristics of High Density U-Mo Alloy Powder Prepared by Centrifugal Atomization

Characteristics of high density U-Mo alloy powder prepared by centrifugal atomization have been examined. The results indicate that the majority of the atomized U-Mo alloy particles has a smooth surface and frequently near-perfect spheroidal shape with few satellites attached. The size distribution of atomized U-Mo alloy powder shows the mono-modal size distribution seen in ligament disintegration mechanism. All phases of atomized alloy powder below 150$\mu\textrm{m}$ irrespectively to particle size are found to be ${\gamma}$-U (cubic structure) phases with isotropic structure and not to be U$_2$Mo phase at all. The microstructure of atomized U-Mo alloy particulates has micro-crystalline structure with non-dendritic gram supersaturated with Mo element. Also the grain size of ${\gamma}$ -U tends to decrease with the decrease of the powder diameter.