The fluorination furnace is a key facility in uranium conversion for producing uranium hexafluoride. However, high‐speed uranium tetrafluoride powders often cause severe erosion in the feed pipe and reaction zone of the facility, leading to structural failure and potential leakage of radioactive and toxic substances. Despite its importance, erosion behavior under the facility remains poorly understood. In this study, a simplified 3D numerical model of the furnace was developed. Using multiphysics coupling methods, the erosion phenomena of varying inclination angles and inlet velocities in the feed pipe were analyzed. Results show that increasing the inclination angle intensifies erosion and localizes damage near the opposite wall of the feed pipe outlet in the reaction zone. An inlet velocity threshold (4 to 5 m/s) marks a transition from sliding to impact‐dominated wear. In contrast, erosion in the feed pipe remains uniform but increases near the outlet. This work provides qualitative insights into erosion‐prone hotspot and offers references for structural design and safety improvement of fluorination facility in nuclear fuel cycling.
Huang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.