Patent GB-938671-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to the production of spheroids
Inventor: WILLIAMS NEVILLE RONALD
IPC: B24B11/02
Filed: 1961-06-12
Abstract: 938,671. Nuclear fuel. UNITED KING- DOM ATOMIC ENERGY AUTHORITY. June 1, 1962 [June 12, 1961], No. 21153/61. Class 39 (4). [Also in Group XXIII] A method of producing spheroids from irregularly-shaped particles of nuclear fuel comprises placing particles in a circular or annular dish, the inner surface of which is provided with an abrasive surface and vibrating the dish in such a manner as to cause the particles to move around the dish while oscillating up and down a rim of the dish until the particles are substantially spheroidal. A dish 1, Fig. 1, approximately 8 ins. diameter, is adapted to fit into a standard sieve section as fitted to a conventional gyratory sieve machine operating by utilizing the forces generated by the rotation of an out-of-balance flywheel to vibrate the sieve section, the rate of gyration being adjusted by movement of balance weights relative to the flywheel. The dish has a lining of emery paper 2; particles 8 are placed in the trough formed between the crown 3 and rim 4. UO 2  powder is ground to minus 300 mesh and compacted at 12 tons p.s.i. to produce pellets 0.4 inch long and 0.4 inch diameter. The pellets are broken down by light tapping and the minus 80 mesh plus 100 mesh particles selected by sieving. 200-300 gm. of the selected particles are placed in the dish which is then gyrated for 8 hours, the balance weights being adjusted such that the particles complete one cycle or rotation of the dish every 4 seconds. The substantially spheroidal particles are then sintered at 1550-1600 C. in a cracked ammonia sintering furnace. The sintered spheroids are finally sieved in a 100-mesh screen and collected on a 150. mesh screen, this operation breaking down any closely held agglomerates. To assist the breaking down of the dense compacted mass into particles of the required size 0.1% wt. of aluminium stearate may be added to the ground powder prior to compacting. A modified dish 5, Fig. 2, has a crown 6 and a deep trough for receiving up to 2 kgm. of particles. The dish is of aluminium and the surface 7 is impregnated with abrasive, e.g. alumina grit or silicon carbide, applied with an epoxy resin. For spheroidizing large batches, e.g. 5-10 kgm., use is made of a dish approximately 19 ins. diameter, the surface being formed with seven concentric annular grooves each lined with abrasive. The balance weights are adjusted to provide a cyclic movement of the particles around the groove every 30 seconds; particles of a size minus 30 plus 50 mesh may be spheroidized in approximately 9 hours. For continuous production of spheroids, a dish has an abrasive lined multi-turn spiral groove extending from the centre of the dish to the periphery. The particles are fed into the groove continuously at the dish centre, the movement of the particles along the groove being controlled such that the particles are spheroidized when they reach the periphery. Alternatively the particles may be only partly spheroidized in one dish and are transferred to the centre of a second dish for further spheroidization. 20 dishes in series may be necessary.