Li₄TiO₄ ceramics pebbles have been proposed to be a promising tritium breeder materials for the fusion reactor blanket of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). In the present study, the hydrothermal method was first used to synthesize the nanostructured precursor powders for fabricating the Li₄TiO₄ ceramic pebbles. The precursor powders were composed of LiOH, Li₂CO₃ and Li₂TiO₃ with a grain size of 30–80 nm. Moreover, the microstructure and phase evolution of Li₄TiO₄ ceramics pebbles were investigated. The results indicated that the formation temperature of Li₄TiO₄ by hydrothermal method was lower than that of other methods. The pure phase Li₄TiO₄ ceramic pebbles with small grain size (average value 0.50 μm), satisfactory crush load (average value 41 N) and reasonable pore structure was sintered at 750 °C for 4 h in vacuum. This study provides a new method for preparing a high quality Li₄TiO₄ ceramic pebble, which has potential application as a tritium breeding material.

已经提出，Li ₄ TiO ₄陶瓷小卵石是国际热核实验反应堆（ITER）的聚变反应堆覆盖层的有前途的tri育种材料。在本研究中，首先使用水热法合成用于制备Li ₄ TiO ₄陶瓷卵石的纳米结构前驱体粉末。前体粉末由LiOH，Li ₂ CO ₃和Li ₂ TiO _3组成，晶粒尺寸为30-80 nm。此外，Li ₄ TiO ₄的微观结构和相演变研究了陶瓷卵石。结果表明，水热法制备Li ₄ TiO ₄的温度低于其他方法。在750°C的真空下烧结具有小晶粒尺寸（平均值0.50μm），令人满意的压碎载荷（平均值41 N）和合理的孔结构的纯相Li ₄ TiO ₄陶瓷卵石。本研究提供了一种制备高品质Li ₄ TiO ₄陶瓷卵石的新方法，有望作为as的育种材料。