Fabrication and characterization of LiH ceramic pebbles by wet process

Lithium hydride (LiH) ceramic pebbles, a new potential tritium breeding material in fusion-fission or fusion reactor blanket, were prepared by wet process for the first time. XRD results showed that LiOH, LiOH·H2O, Li2CO3 and Li2O were found in the surface of LiH pebbles. However, the pure phase of LiH pebbles without cracks could be obtained by paraffin wax coating technique. The average value (a.v.) of the sphericity and the diameter were 1.01 and 0.98 mm, respectively. The LiH pebbles sintered at 450 °C for 3 h under 80 ml/min flowing argon, reached ∼92.3% of the theoretical density, with the grain size of 5.59 μm (a.v.). And the crush load was measured to be 15 N on average. The described wet process exhibited multiple advantages for fabricating LiH pebbles.