Publications
Showing 25 results for Author: Katherine I. Montoya
Sep, 2026
ORNL Report
FY24 V&V Program Yearly Report: Hf-Based Surrogates For Accelerated Coating Development
Jul, 2026
Journal
Stoichiometric effects on grain growth in zirconium carbide coatings for high-temperature nuclear fuel
Interest in coated particle fuel for space nuclear propulsion (SNP) has expanded in recent years due to successful demonstrations of the resiliency of the coatings to extreme environments. For SNP applications, the coating layer for the particle design needs to be able to withstand exposure to high temperature hydrogen during operating conditions. ZrC has been proposed as…
Jun, 2026
Journal
Linking spout fluidization hydrodynamics to pyrolytic carbon deposition characteristics in a fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition reactor
Spout fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition (SFB-CVD) is the dominant method for producing pyrolytic carbon (PyC) coatings on tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles, yet the relationship between gas injector design, fluidization hydrodynamics, and resulting coating quality remains poorly quantified. In this work, three spout fluidized bed (SFB) nozzle geometries…
Mar, 2026
Conference Paper
Low-Pressure and Fluidized-Bed Chemical Vapor Deposition of PyC and ZrC for Space Nuclear Propulsion
Mar, 2026
Conference Paper
Micromechanical Properties of the SiC and Pyrolytic Carbon Layers in Tristructural-Isotropic Coated Particles
Tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated particle fuel was initially developed for high temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGR) and has been proposed for several other advanced reactor concepts. The design of TRISO particles focuses on preventing the release of fission products in normal and off-normal reactor conditions. The particle design features an actinide bearing fuel…