Download or read book CERMETS for Use in Nuclear Thermal Propulsion written by Dennis Tucker and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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/UO2, Mo/UO2, 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,Äôs research into nuclear thermal propulsion will be given, followed by specific research by this author and others to produce CERMET fuels.