Vapor pressure and thermochemical properties of ZrCl4 for ZrC coating of coated fuel particles

Vapor pressure of zirconium tetrachloride(ZrCl4) under vacuum and an argon pressure of 1×105 Pa was measured. The thermochemical changes of ZrCl4 during evaporation were studied by thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis(TG-DTA), X-ray diffractometry(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray(EDX) analysis. At the same temperature, vapor pressures of ZrCl4 under vacuum and an argon pressure of 1×105 Pa are approximately the same. The vapor pressure exceeds 1×105 Pa at 340 °C, which is high enough for ZrC coating of coated fuel particles. ZrCl4 sample is hydrolyzed to some extent to give ZrO2 and HCl, which however, has little influence on vapor pressure of ZrCl4 at high temperature. No ZrCl3 and Cl2 are produced by decomposition of ZrCl4 during evaporation, which is confirmed by thermodynamic calculation.