Hot hydrogen testing of Mo30W matrix surrogate cermets

IF 2.8 2区工程技术 Q3 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Journal of Nuclear Materials Pub Date : 2024-09-27 DOI:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.155431

Neal D. Gaffin , Kelsa B. Palomares , Justin L. Milner , Steven J. Zinkle

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

High temperature hydrogen exposure is one of the most challenging material issues for nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) fuel development. Under legacy NTP programs, ceramic-metallic (cermet) fuel forms with a refractory metal matrix and dispersed uranium dioxide (UO₂) fuel particles were developed and showed promising performance following hot hydrogen testing. However, since the conclusion of those programs, established fabrication techniques, material feedstocks, and the ability to use highly enriched have been reduced or lost all together. In this study, a cermet consisting of a solid solution alloy of molybdenum with 30 wt percent tungsten (Mo30W) was fabricated using spark plasma sintering. Fabrication process parameters were selected to optimize the cermet microstructure using lessons learned from historic NTP programs. Yttria stabilized zirconia particles (50 to 70 % volumetric loading) were used as a fuel particle surrogate. To evaluate whether as-fabricated microstructures exhibited similar resilience as legacy cermet fuels to a hot hydrogen environment, samples were exposed to hot flowing hydrogen from 1920 to 2500 °C (∼2290 to 2770 K). The cermets performed well with minimal mass loss, minor to no cracking, and good retention of internal surrogate particles. Based on these findings, recommendations for future studies with Mo30W-UO₂ cermets as an NTP fuel form are provided.

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Mo30W 基体代用金属陶瓷的热氢测试

高温氢暴露是核热推进（NTP）燃料开发中最具挑战性的材料问题之一。在传统的 NTP 计划中，开发了具有难熔金属基体和分散二氧化铀 (UO2) 燃料颗粒的陶瓷金属（金属陶瓷）燃料形式，并在热氢试验后显示出良好的性能。然而，自这些项目结束以来，既有的制造技术、材料原料以及使用高浓缩铀的能力已经减少或完全丧失。本研究采用火花等离子烧结法制造了一种由钼与 30% 钨（Mo30W）的固溶体合金组成的金属陶瓷。利用从历史上的 NTP 项目中吸取的经验教训，选择了制造工艺参数来优化金属陶瓷的微观结构。钇稳定氧化锆颗粒（体积负荷为 50% 至 70%）被用作燃料颗粒替代物。为了评估制成的微结构在热氢环境中是否表现出与传统金属陶瓷燃料类似的弹性，将样品暴露在 1920 至 2500 °C （2290 至 2770 K）的热流氢中。这些金属陶瓷表现良好，质量损失极小，裂纹轻微甚至没有，内部代用颗粒保持良好。基于这些研究结果，我们对未来将 Mo30W-UO2 金属陶瓷作为 NTP 燃料形式的研究提出了建议。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Nuclear Materials 工程技术-材料科学：综合

CiteScore

5.70

自引率

25.80%

发文量

601

审稿时长

63 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Nuclear Materials publishes high quality papers in materials research for nuclear applications, primarily fission reactors, fusion reactors, and similar environments including radiation areas of charged particle accelerators. Both original research and critical review papers covering experimental, theoretical, and computational aspects of either fundamental or applied nature are welcome. The breadth of the field is such that a wide range of processes and properties in the field of materials science and engineering is of interest to the readership, spanning atom-scale processes, microstructures, thermodynamics, mechanical properties, physical properties, and corrosion, for example. Topics covered by JNM Fission reactor materials, including fuels, cladding, core structures, pressure vessels, coolant interactions with materials, moderator and control components, fission product behavior. Materials aspects of the entire fuel cycle. Materials aspects of the actinides and their compounds. Performance of nuclear waste materials; materials aspects of the immobilization of wastes. Fusion reactor materials, including first walls, blankets, insulators and magnets. Neutron and charged particle radiation effects in materials, including defects, transmutations, microstructures, phase changes and macroscopic properties. Interaction of plasmas, ion beams, electron beams and electromagnetic radiation with materials relevant to nuclear systems.