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Article: Plutonium-an Element Never at Equilibrium
- Article from:
- Metallurgical and Materials Transactions
- Article date:
- July 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Minerals, Metals & Materials Society Jul 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The relentless deposition of energy from the α-particle decay of plutonium damages its crystal lattice and transmutes plutonium into other elements over time (principally, helium, americium, uranium, and neptunium). At cryogenic temperatures (4 K), lattice damage causes significant volume expansion of pure plutonium and contraction of face-centered-cubic stabilized alloys, and both appear to lose crystallinity at long irradiation times. At room temperature, much of the lattice damage is annealed out because defects produced by self-irradiation are sufficiently mobile. Nevertheless, plutonium's delicate balance of stability with changes in temperature, pressure, or chemistry may be ...