Method for producing pressed blanks from ceramic powder, for instance nuclear reactor fuels
AssigneeAlkem GmbH
InventorsManfred Adelmann, Rainer Lob
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Method for producing molded blanks of ceramic powder, for instance, nuclear reactor fuels such as UO.sub.2, PuO.sub.2, ThO.sub.2 or (U/Pu)O.sub.2 -mixed oxides in powder form in a mold belonging to the molding device. The device has a die with a hole and a plunger with a head movable in this hole relative to this die, by which the wall of the hole is lubricated with a lubricant, characterized by the feature that a paste and/or wax-like substance, preferably a lubricating grease is used as the lubricant and that it has a dripping point which is higher than the operating temperature of the mold.
Claims11
An intermittent method for producing molded blanks of ceramic powder in a mold of a molding device, said device having a die with a hole and a plunger with a head movable in said hole of the die, which comprises introducing a lubricant in said hole, moving said head in the hole of the die to form a continuous, thin film of lubricant on the wall of the hole, introducing ceramic powder free of a lubricant binder into the hole with a film of lubricant on its wall, compressing the powder in the hole between said head of said plunger and an upper plunger with a cross section fitted to the cross section of the hole to produce a molded blank, and discharging the molded blank from the hole, said lubricant being a paste or wax-like material and having a dripping point determined according to German Standard DIN 51 801, Sheet 1, of May 1972 higher than the operating temperature of the mold formed by the die and the head of the plunger and thereafter repeating said method to produce additional molded blanks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.