Preparation of the beryllides of uranium and thorium.

Abstract

Uranium and thorium beryllides and their solid solutions were prepared by reaction-sintering, reaction—pressing and arc—melting of mixed metal powders. The major difficulties of preparation were the large swellings accompanying reaction without pressure and the loss of beryllium at temperatures above 1200 — 1300ºC, the reaction—pressing method suffered least from these difficulties and yielded the purest and most dense products.