New synthesis method of advanced lithium titanate with Li4TiO4 additives for ITER-TBM

Lithium titanate (Li2TiO3) is one of the most promising candidates among the proposed solid breeder materials for fusion reactors. Addition of H-2 to inert sweep gas has been proposed for enhancing the release of bred tritium from breeder material. However, the mass of Li2TiO3 has been found to decrease with time in the hydrogen atmosphere. This mass change indicates that the oxygen content of the sample decreased, suggesting the change from Ti4+ to Ti3+. Development of Li2TiO3 with Li4TiO4 additive is expected to be effective in control the mass change at the time of high temperature use. In the present paper, synthetic methods of advance lithium titanate (Li2TiO3 added with Li4TiO4) have been extensively investigated by solid state reaction. The crystal structure of the sample was analyzed by means of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The molar raticis Li2O/TiO2 of samples after the reaction were in good agreement with the values at the time of mixing LiOH center dot H2O and H2TiO3. The overall results suggest that the solid state reaction of LiOH center dot H2O and H2TiO3 is one of the most appropriate synthesis methods for advanced lithium titanate with Li4TiO4 in prospect of mass production technology for the test blanket module (TBM) of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.