DETERMINATION OF SPECIFIC SURFACE-AREA OF URANIUM OXIDE POWDERS USINGDIFFERENTIAL THERMAL-ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE

The two step oxidation of UO2+x and reduction of U3O8 powders observed during Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) has been exploited to dete rmine their Specific Surface Areas (SSAs). The results obtained by thi s method have been compared with the Braunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET ) method and are found to be in good agreement in the SSA range of 2-4 m(2)/gm in the case of UO2+x obtained from ADU route and 4-8 m(2)/gm in the case of AUC route. A precision of +/-0.1 m(2)/gm is obtained. T he maximum temperature of oxidation and reduction of these oxides are dependent upon their preparative routes such as Ammonium Diuranate (AD U) and Ammonium Uranyl Carbonate (AUG).