The effect of synthesis conditions on the phase composition and structure of thorium bearing murataite ceramics

Samples of thorium-bearing ceramic with a target composition (wt%) 5 Al2O3, 10 CaO, 55 TiO2, 10 MnO, 5 Fe2O3, 5 ZrO2, 10 ThO2 were produced by melting in glassy carbon crucibles in a resistive furnace and by cold crucible inductive melting (CCIM) at a vibration power of 10 kW and operation frequency of 5.28 MHz. All the samples contained 85-95 vol% murataite polytypes with 5- (5C), 8- (8C), and 3-fold (3C) elementary fluorite unit cell composing core, intermediate zone and rim of the grains, respectively, and minor crichtonite, perovskite, pyrochlore, rutile, etc. A feature of the ceramics obtained by melting in glassy carbon crucibles is formation of Fe (II) titanate whereas the inductive-melted ceramics contained traces of vitreous phase due to melt contamination with a cold crucible putty material. Melting rate in the cold crucible of up to 350 kg/(m2 × h) has been achieved. The ceramics obtained have excellent chemical durability.