Ut-battelle, Inc.

Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation

David Eugene Holcomb

Dane Francis Wilson

Govindarajan Muralidharan

Roger Allen Kisner

Craig A Blue

Gilbert Morris Brown

Timothy Eric McKnight

John B Wilgen

Milton Nance Ericson

Eric B Grann

Srinath Viswanathan

Weiju Ren

A method of stripping tritium from flowing stream of molten salt includes providing a tritium-separating membrane structure having a porous support, a nanoporous structural metal-ion diffusion barrier layer, and a gas-tight, nonporous palladium-bearing separative layer, directing the flowing stream of molten salt into contact with the palladium-bearing layer so that tritium contained within the molten salt is transported through the tritium-separating membrane structure, and contacting a sweep gas with the porous support for collecting the tritium.

Apparatus and method for stripping tritium from molten salt

An essentially Fe-free alloy consists essentially of, in terms of weight percent: 4 to 11 Co, 6.5 to 7.5 Cr, 0 to 0.15 Al, 0.5 to 0.85 Mn, 11 to 20 Mo, 1 to 3.5 Ta, 0.05 to 9 W, 0.03 to 0.08 C, 0 to 0.001 B, 0.0005 to 0.005 N, balance Ni, the alloy being characterized by, at 850&#xb0; C., a yield strength of at least 25 Ksi, a tensile strength of at least 45 Ksi, a creep rupture life at 12 Ksi of at least 10 hours, and a corrosion rate, expressed in weight loss [g/(cmsec)]10during a 1000 hour immersion in liquid FLiNaK at 850&#xb0; C., in the range of 5 to 20.

Creep-resistant, cobalt-containing alloys for high temperature, liquid-salt heat exchanger systems

An alloy consists essentially of, in terms of weight percent: 6 to 8.5 Cr, 5.5 to 13.5 Mo, 0.4 to 7.5 W, 1 to 2 Ti, 0.7 to 0.85 Mn, 0.05 to 0.3 Al, up to to 0.1 Co, 0.08 to 0.5 C, 1 to 5 Ta, 1 to 4 Nab, 1 to 3 Hf, balance Ni. The alloy is characterized by, at 850&#xb0; C., a yield strength of at least 36 Ksi, a tensile strength of at least 40 Ksi, a creep rupture life at 12 Ksi of at least 72.1 hours, and a corrosion rate, expressed in weight loss [g/(cm2sec)]&#xd7;10during a 1000 hour immersion in liquid FLiNaK at 850&#xb0; C., in the range of 8 to 25.

Intermediate strength alloys for high temperature service in liquid-salt cooled energy systems

An alloy is composed essentially of, in terms of weight percent: 6 to 8.5 Cr, 5.5 to 13.5 Mo, 0.4 to 7.5 W, 1 to 2 Ti, 0.7 to 0.85 Mn, 0.05 to 0.3 Al, 0.08 to 0.5 C, 0 to 1 Nb, with the balance Ni, the alloy being characterized by, at 850&#xb0; C., a yield strength of at least 25 Ksi, a tensile strength of at least 30 Ksi, a creep rupture life at 12 Ksi of at least 45 hours, and a corrosion rate, expressed in weight loss [g/(cmsec)]10during a 1000 hour immersion in liquid FLiNaK at 850&#xb0; C., in the range of 6 to 39.

An essentially cobalt-free alloy consists essentially of, in terms of weight percent: 6.3 to 7.2 Cr, 0.5 to 2 Al, 0 to 5 Fe, 0.7 to 0.8 Mn, 9 to 12.5 Mo, 0 to 6 Ta, 0.75 to 3.5 Ti, 0.01 to 0.25 Nb, 0.2 to 0.6 W, 0.02 to 0.04 C, 0 to 0.001 B, 0.0001 to 0.002 N, balance Ni. The alloy is characterized by a &#x3b3;' microstructural component in the range of 3 to 17.6 weight percent of the total composition. The alloy is further characterized by, at 850&#xb0; C., a yield strength of at least 60 Ksi, a tensile strength of at least 70 Ksi, a creep rupture life at 12 Ksi of at least 700 hours, and a corrosion rate, expressed in weight loss [g/(cmsec)]10during a 1000 hour immersion in liquid FLiNaK at 850&#xb0; C., in the range of 5.5 to 17.

High strength alloys for high temperature service in liquid-salt cooled energy systems

An essentially Fe- and Co-free alloy is composed essentially of, in terms of weight percent: 6.0 to 7.5 Cr, 0 to 0.15 Al, 0.5 to 0.85 Mn, 11 to 19.5 Mo, 0.03 to 4.5 Ta, 0.01 to 9 W, 0.03 to 0.08 C, 0 to 1 Re, 0 to 1 Ru, 0 to 0.001 B, 0.0005 to 0.005 N, balance Ni, the alloy being characterized by, at 850&#xb0; C., a yield strength of at least 25 Ksi, a tensile strength of at least 38 Ksi, a creep rupture life at 12 Ksi of at least 25 hours, and a corrosion rate, expressed in weight loss [g/(cmsec)]10during a 1000 hour immersion in liquid FLiNaK at 850&#xb0; C., in the range of 3 to 10.

Creep-resistant, cobalt-free alloys for high temperature, liquid-salt heat exchanger systems

A method of in-situ reconditioning a heat exchanger includes the steps of: providing an in-service heat exchanger comprising a precipitate-strengthened alloy wherein at least one mechanical property of the heat exchanger is degraded by coarsening of the precipitate, the in-service heat exchanger containing a molten salt working heat exchange fluid; deactivating the heat exchanger from service in-situ; in a solution-annealing step, in-situ heating the heat exchanger and molten salt working heat exchange fluid contained therein to a temperature and for a time period sufficient to dissolve the coarsened precipitate; in a quenching step, flowing the molten salt working heat-exchange fluid through the heat exchanger in-situ to cool the alloy and retain a supersaturated solid solution while preventing formation of large precipitates; and in an aging step, further varying the temperature of the flowing molten salt working heat-exchange fluid to re-precipitate the dissolved precipitate.

Heat exchanger life extension via in-situ reconditioning

Disclosed herein are systems, devices and methods for stress-rupture testing selected materials within a high-temperature liquid salt environment. Exemplary testing systems include a load train for holding a test specimen within a heated inert gas vessel. A thermal break included in the load train can thermally insulate a load cell positioned along the load train within the inert gas vessel. The test specimen can include a cylindrical gage portion having an internal void filled with a molten salt during stress-rupture testing. The gage portion can have an inner surface area to volume ratio of greater than 20 to maximize the corrosive effect of the molten salt on the specimen material during testing. Also disclosed are methods of making a salt ingot for placement within the test specimen.

Liquid salt environment stress-rupture testing

A tube-style neutron detector, a panel-style neutron detector incorporating a plurality of tube-style neutron detectors, and a panel-style neutron detector including a plurality of anode wires are provided. A plurality of channels is provided in a neutron detector such that each channel has an inner surface of a coating layer including a neutron-absorbing material. A wire anode is provided at end of each channel so that electrons generated by a charged daughter particle generated by a neutron are collected to detect a neutron-matter interaction. Moderator units can be incorporated into a neutron detector to provide improved detection efficiencies and/or to determine neutron energy spectrum. Gas-based proportional response from the neutron detectors can be employed for special nuclear material (SNM) detection. This neutron detector can provide similar performance toHe-based detectors without requiringHe and without containing toxic, flammable, or high-pressure materials.

High efficiency proportional neutron detector with solid liner internal structures

A level measurement system suitable for use in a high temperature and pressure environment to measure the level of coolant fluid within the environment, the system including a volume of coolant fluid located in a coolant region of the high temperature and pressure environment and having a level therein; an ultrasonic waveguide blade that is positioned within the desired coolant region of the high temperature and pressure environment; a magnetostrictive electrical assembly located within the high temperature and pressure environment and configured to operate in the environment and cooperate with the waveguide blade to launch and receive ultrasonic waves; and an external signal processing system located outside of the high temperature and pressure environment and configured for communicating with the electrical assembly located within the high temperature and pressure environment.

Torsional ultrasonic wave based level measurement system

A monolithic sensor includes a reference channel and at least one sensing channel. Each sensing channel has an oscillator and a counter driven by the oscillator. The reference channel and the at least one sensing channel being formed integrally with a substrate and intimately nested with one another on the substrate. Thus, the oscillator and the counter have matched component values and temperature coefficients. A frequency determining component of the sensing oscillator is formed integrally with the substrate and has an impedance parameter which varies with an environmental parameter to be measured by the sensor. A gating control is responsive to an output signal generated by the reference channel, for terminating counting in the at least one sensing channel at an output count, whereby the output count is indicative of the environmental parameter, and successive ones of the output counts are indicative of changes in the environmental parameter.

Monolithically compatible impedance measurement

The present invention is a method for creating a localized disruption within a boundary of a cell or structure by exposing a boundary of a cell or structure to a set of energetically charged particles while regulating the energy of the charged particles so that the charged particles have an amount of kinetic energy sufficient to create a localized disruption within an area of the boundary of the cell or structure, then upon creation of the localized disruption, the amount of kinetic energy decreases to an amount insufficient to create further damage within the cell or structure beyond the boundary. The present invention is also a method for facilitating the introduction of a material into a cell or structure using the same methodology then further exciting the area of the boundary of the cell or structure where the localized disruption was created so to create a localized temporary opening within the boundary then further introducing the material through the temporary opening into the cell or structure.

Method for facilitating the introduction of material into cells

An optical measurement apparatus is provided for measuring the thickness of a moving sheet material (18). The apparatus has a pair of optical measurement systems (21, 31) attached to opposing surfaces (14, 16) of a rigid support structure (10). A pair of high-power laser diodes (20,30) and a pair of photodetector arrays (22,32) are attached to the opposing surfaces. Light emitted from the laser diodes is reflected off of the sheet material surfaces (17, 19) and received by the respective photodetector arrays. An associated method for implementing the apparatus is also provided.

High-speed non-contact measuring apparatus for gauging the thickness of

Systems and methods are described for rapidly forming precision metallic and intermetallic alloy net shape parts directly from liquid metal droplets. A directed droplet deposition apparatus includes a crucible with an orifice for producing a jet of material, a jet destabilizer, a charging structure, a deflector system, and an impact zone. The systems and methods provide advantages in that fully dense, microstructurally controlled parts can be fabricated at moderate cost.

Growing community of inventors

Oak Ridge, TN, United States of America

David Eugene Holcomb