Anisotropic thermal conductivity in uranium dioxide

K. Gofryk, S. Du, C. R. Stanek (), J. C. Lashley, X. -Y. Liu, R. K. Schulze, J. L. Smith, D. J. Safarik, D. D. Byler, K. J. McClellan, B. P. Uberuaga, B. L. Scott and D. A. Andersson ()
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K. Gofryk: Materials Technology-Metallurgy, Los Alamos National Laboratory
S. Du: Physics and Chemistry of Materials, Los Alamos National Laboratory
C. R. Stanek: Materials Science in Radiation & Dynamical Extremes, Los Alamos National Laboratory
J. C. Lashley: Materials Technology-Metallurgy, Los Alamos National Laboratory
X. -Y. Liu: Materials Science in Radiation & Dynamical Extremes, Los Alamos National Laboratory
R. K. Schulze: Materials Technology-Metallurgy, Los Alamos National Laboratory
J. L. Smith: Materials Technology-Metallurgy, Los Alamos National Laboratory
D. J. Safarik: Materials Technology-Metallurgy, Los Alamos National Laboratory
D. D. Byler: Materials Science in Radiation & Dynamical Extremes, Los Alamos National Laboratory
K. J. McClellan: Materials Science in Radiation & Dynamical Extremes, Los Alamos National Laboratory
B. P. Uberuaga: Materials Science in Radiation & Dynamical Extremes, Los Alamos National Laboratory
B. L. Scott: Los Alamos National Laboratory
D. A. Andersson: Materials Science in Radiation & Dynamical Extremes, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The thermal conductivity of uranium dioxide has been studied for over half a century, as uranium dioxide is the fuel used in a majority of operating nuclear reactors and thermal conductivity controls the conversion of heat produced by fission events to electricity. Because uranium dioxide is a cubic compound and thermal conductivity is a second-rank tensor, it has always been assumed to be isotropic. We report thermal conductivity measurements on oriented uranium dioxide single crystals that show anisotropy from 4 K to above 300 K. Our results indicate that phonon-spin scattering is important for understanding the general thermal conductivity behaviour, and also explains the anisotropy by coupling to the applied temperature gradient and breaking cubic symmetry.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5551

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