ICONE23-1090 SINGLE STEP FABRICATION OF NANO-SIZED Li4SiO4 BREEDER BY MICROWAVE-INDUCED SOLUTION COMBUSTION SYNTHESIS

Abstract

Li_4SiO_4 (lithium orthosilicate) is a promising ceramic tritium breeder for the future D-T fusion reactor, which is also considered as a candidate material for Helium Cooled Pebble Bed Test Blanket Module (HCPB TBM) of China. Simple and efficient microwave-induced solution combustion synthesis (MSCS) approach was adopted to prepare Li_4SiO_4 powder by using lithium nitrate and tetraethyl orthosilicate as raw materials. In MSCS, microwave power is a key factor, which controls the combustion mode, flame temperature, phase composition, and microstructure of the product. The synthesized Li_4SiO_4 particles are homogeneous distributed with an average crystalline size of 20 nm when the microwave power is 1100 W. The Li_4SiO_4 powder shows comparable sinterability to the conventional solid state reaction, which reaches 89.2% of theoretical density at 1173 K with a small grain size of 2 μm.