CERMETS for Use in Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

NASA is currently investigating nuclear thermal propulsion as an alternative to chemical propulsion for manned missions to the outer planets. There are a number of materials being considered for use as fuel elements. These materials include tricarbides and CERMETS such as W/UO 2 , Mo/UO 2 , W/UN and Mo/UN. All of these materials require high temperature processing to achieve the required densities. It has been found that Spark Plasma Sintering is a good choice for sintering these materials to the required densities while maintaining a uniform grain size. In this chapter a brief history of NASA ’ s research into nuclear thermal propulsion will be given, followed by specific research by this author and others to produce CERMET fuels.