Recycling of Zircaloy Machining Chips Using Powder Metallurgy and Remelting in an Electric Arc Furnace

Abstract

Pereira LAT, Martinez LG, Rossi JL and Takiishi H

Nuclear power reactors use UO2 pellets as nuclear fuel and Zircaloy as cladding. Machining chips are generated in the fabrication of Zircaloy. This highly valuable material is not discarded for regular recycling due to its low market price. This paper presents two methods for recycling Zircaloy chips. The first is the powder metallurgy technique, where by the chips were subjected to hydriding, which involved milling, isostatically pressing and sintering the material. The second technique consisted of melting the chips in an electric arc furnace to obtain ingots, which were heat-treated. The chemical composition, crystal phases, hardness and microstructures produced by the two methods were characterized, strongly suggesting that Zircaloy chips maybe a source of high quality material that can be reused in the field of nuclear technology and in biomaterials.

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