Compatibility of several iron-base, cobalt- base, and nickel-base alloys with refluxing potassium at 1800 deg F
Corrosion resistance tests for compatibility of several iron, cobalt, and nickel based alloys with refluxing potassium
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Corrosion resistance tests for compatibility of several iron, cobalt, and nickel based alloys with refluxing potassium
Iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys such as APMT (advanced powder metallurgy tubing) are candidate materials to replace zirconium alloys for the light water reactor fuel cladding. This alloy meets the requirements to be a material more tolerant of high-temperature accidents than the current zirconium alloys. One concern is that the use of FeCrAl may result in an increase in tritium presence in the coolant compared to the current design. The aim of the current research was to obtain effective diffusion coefficients (D eff ) for hydrogen through APMT using the Devanathan-Stachurski cell. Results showed that at 30°C the D eff value was 2.8 × 10 -8 cm 2 /s. Results also showed a linear relationship between the permeated hydrogen flux and the inverse of the test specimen thickness, which demonstrated the validity of the permeation measurements.
The changes in electronic structure related to transport processes occurring during the alloying of he alloy Ni3Mn with iron and cobalt, and the ordering of the ternary alloys thus formed are presented. The Hall effect, the absolute thermal emf, the internal saturation induction, the Nernst-Ettingshausen constant, and the electrical resistivity were measured. Results show a decrease in the contribution of hole sections of the Fermi surface to the transport process occurs together with a considerable increase in the contribution of electron sections. In this case, the mobility of 3 dimensional holes decreases and the mobility of 4s electrons increases considerably.
Results of metals flammability tests performed on twenty-six metals in the NASA/White Sands Test Facility are discussed together with the test systems. The promoted combustion and ignition characteristics of these metals are described, and the metals are ranked according to their suitability for use in oxygen systems. In general, alloys with high copper and nickel contents and low iron content were found to rank higher than those that had high iron content, while alloys that had high aluminum content were ranked the lowest.
The application of an alternative laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) method based on transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) CO2 laser was investigated for the first time for estimating the hardness of metallic materials. The human eye-safe (TEA) CO2 laser, operating at 10.6 µm, was used for plasma generation. The LIBS spectra were recorded by employing a cost-effective CCD camera for the time-integrated and spatial resolved measurements. The cast iron and aluminum alloys samples with different hardness have been tested. The ratio between the magnesium ionic and neutral lines in LIBS spectra was applied for estimating the material hardness. In addition, the hardness of all samples included in this study was determined using the conventional method for material hardness determination, i.e. Vickers hardness test. The linear dependence of magnesium lines intensity ratio on the sample’s hardness was obtained for both kinds of materials. Profilometric measurements were used to verify that the newly-introduced method is almost nondestructive for the investigated metals. The results obtained in the present work confirmed the potential of using this original LIBS system not only for the fast elemental analysis but also for the direct estimation of the hardness of metals and alloys. © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
Sliding friction experiments were conducted with various metals and iron-base binary alloys (alloying elements Ti, Cr, Mn, Ni, Rh, and W) in contact with single-crystal silicon carbide riders. Results indicate that the coefficient of friction and groove height (corresponding to the wear volume) decrease linearly as the shear strength of the bulk metal increases. The coefficient of friction and groove height generally decrease with an increase in solute content of binary alloys. A separate correlation exists between the solute to iron atomic radius ratio and the decreasing rates of change of coefficient of friction and groove height with increasing solute content. These rates of change are minimum at a solute to iron radius ratio of unity. They increase as the atomic ratio increases or decreases linearly from unity. The correlations indicate that atomic size is an important parameter in controlling friction and wear of alloys.
Five nickel-base alloys (Inconel 718, Udimet 700, Rene 41, Hastelloy X, and TD-NiCr), one cobalt-base alloy (L-605), and an iron-base alloy (A-286) were exposed in hydrogen at 0.1 MN/sq m (15 psi) at several temperatures in the range from 430 to 980 C for as long as 1000 hours. These alloys were embrittled to varying degrees by such exposures in hydrogen. Embrittlement was found to be: (1) sensitive to strain rate, (2) reversible, (3) caused by large concentrations of absorbed hydrogen, and (4) not associated with any detectable microstructural changes in the alloys. These observations are consistent with a mechanism of internal reversible hydrogen embrittlement.
Selective laser melting (SLM) is a prominent metal additive manufacturing (AM) capable of processing a myriad of engineering materials with high precision and design freedom. However, similar to other AM processes, poor surface finishing has been an omnipresent problem in SLM technology. In this study, magnetic field assisted finishing (MAF) was used to finish SLM fabricated oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) MA956, an iron-chromium-aluminum alloy. The effect of laser processing parameters on part density and surface roughness was first studied. Using a multi-objective optimization technique, the optimal parameters to obtain the highest density and lowest surface roughness were determined. Finally, MAF was applied to the parts built with the obtained optimal SLM parameters, but without significant improvement on the surfaces of as-printed samples. Hence, the surfaces of as-printed samples were post-processed (ground) to yield better initial surface conditions prior to MAF. The effect of initial roughness, iron particles size, and abrasive size on MAF performance was studied. Initial roughness had the most dominant effect followed by abrasive size. The underlying mechanism behind the dependency on initial roughness on final surface quality was analyzed by studying the change on the surface profiles with different starting initial roughness. The initial roughness required for MAF to be effective was determined. In conclusion, using the optimal processing conditions, MAF was applied to the post-processed samples to attain the final average surface roughness (R a ) as little as 0.36 μm starting from initial average roughness (R a ) of 1.53 μm.
Here assessment of burst characteristics of accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) claddings is essential to evaluate the safety margins of nuclear reactors, and better understanding can enable accelerated licensing for reactor concepts that include the new materials. Therefore, this study investigated the burst behavior of an ATF candidate of C26M, which is an iron–chromium–aluminum alloy (FeCrAl) under transient testing like the simulated loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) conditions, except the water-quenching phase, in light-water reactors (LWRs). The effect of LOCA specimen length was assessed in terms of post-burst tube parameters. No critical length effect was determined on the burst pressure, burst location, and burst size measurements. Burst temperature showed larger variation likely due to its measurement approach used in this study. The post-test diametral strain was identified as the critical parameter to reduce the specimen length as compared to tube burst length or width. Postmortem optical metrology and digital image correlation were employed to determine the local strain-state during the simulated LOCA, which showed the loading path was close to equibiaxial conditions in regions away from the burst location, rather than internally pressurized conditions (or “plane-strain” tension). Pst-test microstructural characterizations of the FeCrAl revealed that ductile damage was present at the edge of the outer radial surface while the rest of the material was ruptured via cleavage at LOCA burst temperatures. Furthermore, internal grain boundary cracks were observed at locations away from the tube burst region. This behavior was considered to occur during the cooling down period of the simulated LOCA test. Overall, this study aimed to provide essential data for fuel performance code development by considering micromechanics of the deformation and failure.
Remanufacturing is a well-established end-of-life (EOL) strategy that promises significant savings in energy and carbon emissions. However, the current design practices are not remanufacturing-inclusive, i.e., the majority of products are designed for a single life cycle. As a result, potential products that can sustain multiple life cycles are deprived of additional benefits of being designed for remanufacturing, such as reduced material usage, lower cost, and improved environmental impact. Moreover, the uncertainty in design, material selection, and economics are not considered to produce remanufacturable designs. Accordingly, this research proposes a design for remanufacturing (DfRem) framework that accounts for design uncertainty and material price volatility. The framework systematically explores the design space, performs design optimization under uncertainty, followed by topology optimization to provide additional mass savings, and finally, a price volatility analysis for plausible design material choices. The candidate designs are evaluated based on their design mass, material price volatility, failure mode characteristics, carbon footprint, and embodied energy impacts. The proposed framework's utility is demonstrated via the use of an engine cylinder head case study subjected to thermo-mechanical loads along with fatigue and wear failure. Considering grey cast iron and aluminum alloy as the design material choices, it was found that the cast iron design reduced the initial design mass by 6% as opposed to a 5% decrease for aluminum. On the other hand, about 8% area of the cast iron design failed due to fatigue, compared to 3% for aluminum. Here, we further observed that although the aluminum design provided better mechanical performance than the cast iron design, this material was more expensive and volatile in price.
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Sliding friction experiments were conducted with various metals and iron-base binary alloys (alloying elements Ti, Cr, Mn, Ni, Rh and W) in contact with single crystal silicon carbide riders. Results indicate that the friction force in the plowing of metal and the groove height (corresponding to the wear volume of the groove) decrease linearly as the shear strength of the bulk metal increases. The coefficient of friction and groove height generally decrease, and the contact pressure increases with an increase in solute content of binary alloys. There appears to be very good correlation of the solute to iron atomic ratio with the decreasing rate of change of coefficient of friction, the decreasing rate of change of groove height and the increasing rate of change of contact pressure with increasing solute content. These rates of change increase as the solute to iron atomic radius ratio increases or decreases from unity.
Ferritic iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys with varying Cr content were subjected to in-situ irradiation-corrosion with energetic protons or electron beams in pure water with various oxygen concentrations. Oxide microstructure and composition were characterized to compare the corrosion under irradiation with the thermal corrosion in the same water conditions. The dominant effect seems to be the production of H 2 O 2 at the surface by the intense proton and electron beams. The corrosion potential of FeCrAl under BWR-NWC condition is somewhat above the Cr 2 O 3 /CrO 4 2- phase boundary, oxidizing the Cr(III) to Cr(VI) in the outer part of the film, but with some Cr(III) remaining in the interior of the oxide. The beam increases the corrosion potential, significantly reducing Cr(III) content throughout the oxide. Finally, the crystallites on the surface, which form by re-precipitation from solution, do not contain Cr because at low potential Cr(III) is not soluble, and at high potential Cr(VI) is quite soluble.
Abstract Iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys are being considered for the cladding of uranium dioxide fuel in light water reactors (LWRs). FeCrAl alloys have good mechanical properties at temperatures of 300 °C and higher, and have superlative resistance to attack by steam at temperatures of up to 1000 °C and higher. A concern has been raised that the use of FeCrAl for cladding would result in a higher content of tritium in the reactor coolant as compared with the current system where the cladding is a zirconium based alloy. This review shows that the flux of tritium from the fuel rod cavities to the coolant across the fuel cladding wall will be greatly reduced by the presence of oxides on the surface of the cladding. The review of current literature and permeation data show that (a) protective oxides are expected to be present on both sides of the FeCrAl cladding, and (b) depending on the characteristics of these oxide layers it is reasonable to expect about two–three orders of magnitude reduction in tritium permeation, relative to the permeation response in clean, unoxidized condition for FeCrAl steels of interest, around 277 °C–377 °C temperatures.
Partial phase diagram of titanium aluminum chromium iron silicon boron system
Particle impact and frictional heating tests of metals in high pressure oxygen, are conducted in support of the design of an advanced rocket engine oxygen turbopump. Materials having a wide range of thermodynamic properties including heat of combustion and thermal diffusivity were compared in their resistance to ignition and sustained burning. Copper, nickel and their alloys were found superior to iron based and stainless steel alloys. Some materials became more difficult to ignite as oxygen pressure was increased from 7 to 21 MPa (1000 to 3000 psia).
Contact resistance has been used to characterize the processes of physical contact in metallic systems with ultra clean surfaces. The contact resistance versus load curves of iron and two cobalt alloys were used to demonstrate the existence of surface work hardening and interfacial creep during contact as well as the fracture characteristics of an interfacial junction as the load is removed. The presence of an adsorbed film of hydrogen or hydrogen ions on iron completely changes the contact process. A comparison of the contact resistance versus load data for ultra pure iron, an iron-cobalt alloy and a cobalt molybdenum-chromium was used to illustrate the effect of substrate mechanical properties on static adhesion and the ability to convert these data for the estimation of the dynamic coefficient of friction under the particular experimental conditions.
Contact resistance has been used to characterize the processes of physical contact in metallic systems with ultraclean surfaces. The contact resistance versus load curves of iron and two cobalt alloys were used to demonstrate the existence of surface work hardening and interfacial creep during contact as well as the fracture characteristics of an interfacial junction as the load is removed. The presence of an adsorbed film of hydrogen or hydrogen ions on iron completely changes the contact process. A comparison of the contact resistance versus load data for ultrapure iron, and iron-cobalt alloy, and a cobalt molybdenum-chromium was used to illustrate the effect of substrate mechanical properties on static adhesion and the ability to convert these data for the estimation of the dynamic coefficient of friction under the particular experimental conditions.