COMPOSITIONS FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AND METHODS OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, PARTICULARLY OF NUCLEAR REACTOR COMPONENTS

• Main Authors: FISHER, Benjamin D, SALASIN, John R, WIGGINS, Bryan Blake
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 19.09.2024
• Subjects: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY; ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OFTHREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVEAGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING,STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON; MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVINGCARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS; METALLURGY; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING; NUCLEAR PHYSICS; NUCLEAR REACTORS; ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; TRANSPORTING; USE OF INORGANIC OR NON-MACROMOLECULAR ORGANIC SUBSTANCES ASCOMPOUNDING INGREDIENTS; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

Additive manufacturing methods use a surrogate slurry to iteratively develop an additive manufacturing protocol and then substitutes a final slurry composition to then additively manufacture a final component using the developed additive manufacturing protocol. In the nuclear reactor component context, the final slurry composition is a nuclear fuel slurry having a composition: 30-45 vol. % monomer resin, 30-70 vol. % plurality of particles of uranium-containing material, >0-7 vol. % dispersant, photoactivated dye, photoabsorber, photoinitiator, and 0-18 vol. % (as a balance) diluent. The surrogate slurry has a similar composition, but a plurality of surrogate particles selected to represent a uranium-containing material are substituted for the particles of uranium-containing material. The method provides a means for in-situ monitoring of characteristics of the final component during manufacture as well as in-situ volumetric inspection. Compositions of surrogate slurries and nuclear fuel slurries are also disclosed.