Opportunities in Plutonium Metallurgical Research

Résumé du livre

This is an exciting time to be involved in plutonium metallurgical research. Over the past few years, there have been significant advances in our understanding of the fundamental materials science of this unusual metal, particularly in the areas of self-irradiation induced aging of Pu, the equilibrium phase diagram, the homogenization of {delta}-phase alloys, the crystallography and morphology of the {alpha}{prime}-phase resulting from the isothermal martensitic phase transformation, and the phonon dispersion curves, among many others. In addition, tremendous progress has been made, both experimentally and theoretically, in our understanding of the condensed matter physics and chemistry of the actinides, particularly in the area of electronic structure. Although these communities have made substantial progress, many challenges still remain. This brief overview will address a number of important challenges that we face in fully comprehending the metallurgy of Pu with a specific focus on aging and phase transformations.