Density and viscosity of liquid ZrO(2) measured by aerodynamic levitation technique

Liquid ZrO(2) is one of the most important materials involved in severe accident analysis of a light-water reactor. Despite its importance, the physical properties of liquid ZrO(2) are scarcely reported. In particular, there are no experimental reports on the viscosity of liquid ZrO(2). This is mainly due to the technical difficulties involved in the measurement of thermo-physical properties of liquid ZrO(2), which has an extremely high melting point. To address this problem, an aerodynamic levitation technique was used in this study. The density of liquid ZrO(2) was calculated from its mass and volume, estimated based on the recorded image of the sample. The viscosity was measured by a droplet oscillation technique. The density and viscosity of liquid ZrO(2) at temperatures ranging from 2753 K to 3273 K, and 3170 K–3471 K, respectively, were successfully evaluated. The density of liquid ZrO(2) was found to be 4.7 g/cm (3) at its melting point of 2988 K and decreased linearly with increasing temperature, and the viscosity of liquid ZrO(2) was 13 mPa at its melting point.