Table 1 Calculated U3Si2/SiC interface reaction energies.

From: Understanding the interface interaction between U3Si2 fuel and SiC cladding

#

Reaction

x

ΔHr (eV/atom)

1

5U3Si2 + 6SiC = 3U3Si2C2 + 2U3Si5

0.4545

−0.1300

2

8U3Si2 + 9SiC = 5U3Si5 + 9UC

0.4706

−0.1785

3

3U3Si2 + 2SiC = U3Si2C2 + 6USi

0.6000

−0.1202

4

2U3Si2 + SiC = 5USi + UC

0.6667

−0.1430

5

61U3Si2 + 27SiC = 9U20Si16C3 + U3Si5

0.6932

−0.1397

6

7U3Si2 + 3SiC = U20Si16C3 + USi

0.7000

−0.1386

  1. U3Si2/SiC reaction energies, ΔHr, listed in increasing molar fraction, x, of U3Si2 in the reaction: xU3Si2 + (1–x)SiC. The reactions in bold represent the minimum ΔHr, i.e., ΔHr on the reaction energy convex hull (Supplementary Fig. 1).
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