Assessment of uranium nitride interatomic potentials

Uranium mononitride (UN) is a promising nuclear fuel due to its high fissile density, high thermal conductivity, and suitability for reprocessing. In this study, two uranium nitride interatomic potentials are assessed: Tseplyaev and Starikov's angular-dependent potential and Kocevski et al.'s embedded atom model potential. Predictions of the thermophysical and elastic properties of UN,

, and α- and β-

computed using both potentials are assessed and compared to available experimental data. The Tseplyaev potential performs better with the energetic aspects of UN, e.g., specific heat capacity and point defect formation energies, whereas the Kocevski potential performs better with the structural aspects of UN, e.g., thermal expansion as well as with the elastic properties. The reasons why the Kocevski potential underestimates the UN specific heat are explained by examining the UN phonon properties modeled using both potentials. The Kocevski potential shows better identification of the mechanical stability ranges of UN,

, and α- and β-

, reasonably predicting the melting point of UN and predicting stable structures for

and α- and β-

. On the other hand, the Tseplyaev potential predicts a premature phase change of both UN and

and cannot stabilize α- nor β-

. However, the Kocevski potential cannot predict a stable α-U phase and is thus not suitable for the calculation of formation energies for non-stoichiometric point defects.