Surface tension of molten mixtures of fluorides of lithium, beryllium, and thorium

Melts of mixtures of fluorides of lithium, beryllium, thorium and uranium satisfy most completely the many requirements imposed on fuel composites and breeder-zone materials in a liquid-salt nuclear reactor, and therefore there is a need for information on the physicochemical properties of such melts. This paper reports on a study in which the surface tension of three-component melts containing fluorides of thorium, beryllium and lithium were measured by the maximum-pressure method in a gas bubble. The salts investigated were placed in glass carbon crucibles. The material used for the capillaries was nickel, which is resistant to the action of fluoride melts. As the working gas, the authors used argon from which the traces of moisture and oxygen had been removed. The surface tension was calculated by the Cantor-Schrodinger method and in the investigations close attention was paid to the preparation of the appropriate anhydrous salts.