CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF ZIRCONOLITE-BASED GLASS-CERAMICS

P. Loiseau (1) , I. Touet , Daniel Caurant (1) , Y. Dextre , C. Fillet

1 LCMCP (site ENSCP) - Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris (site ENSCP)

December 1991 legislation in France has spurred research on enhanced separation and conditioning or transmutation of long-lived radionuclides from high level radioactive wastes (HLW). In this field, we have studied zirconolite-based glass-ceramics in which the crystalline phase (zirconolite: CaZrTi2O7) aimed to preferentially incorporate minor actinides is embedded in a glassy calcium aluminosilicate matrix. At the laboratory scale, the crystallization of the parent glass is carried out thanks to a two-step thermal treatment: a nucleation stage followed by a growth stage. This paper presents the evolution of the crystallization, followed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), with the temperature of the crystal growth thermal treatment, in the range 950° - 1350°C.

Mots clés: minor actinides; glass-ceramics; zirconolite; nuclear waste

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]; Matériaux

P. Loiseau, I. Touet, Daniel Caurant, Y. Dextre, C. Fillet. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF ZIRCONOLITE-BASED GLASS-CERAMICS. ATALANTE 2000 (les recherches scientifiques sur l'aval du cycle pour le 21ème siècle), Oct 2000, AVIGNON, France. ⟨hal-00177946⟩