A new process based agglomeration parameter to characterize ceramic powders

Uranium dioxide powders are made through aqueous chemical route involving precipitation, drying, calcination and reduction. The presence of agglomerates causes powder packing difficulties in the compaction die, and non-uniform and incomplete densification on sintering. To quantify the degree of agglomeration, several authors have proposed 'Agglomeration Parameters'. The change in BET specific surface area of calcined U(3)O(8) upon reduction to UO(2) per unit temperature difference is a simple new measure of agglomeration in uranium dioxide powders. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.