Melting of High Purity Uranium

A melting process was developed by which high purity electrolytic uranium crystals can be converted into sound ingots without serious contamination. Careful preparation of the crystals, melting in a high vacuum, and directional solidification led to a metal of better than 99.993 wt pet purity. The metallographic examination showed a substantially clean metal with only residual amounts of a second phase which responded to heat treatment. The density of high purity uranium is 19.05 g per cu cm.