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Latest News
Colin Judge: Testing structural materials in Idaho’s newest hot cell facility
Idaho National Laboratory’s newest facility—the Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL)—sits across the road from the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), which started operating in 1975. SPL will host the first new hot cells at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) in 50 years, giving INL researchers and partners new flexibility to test the structural properties of irradiated materials fresh from the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) or from a partner’s facility.
Materials meant to withstand extreme conditions in fission or fusion power plants must be tested under similar conditions and pushed past their breaking points so performance and limitations can be understood and improved. Once irradiated, materials samples can be cut down to size in SPL and packaged for testing in other facilities at INL or other national laboratories, commercial labs, or universities. But they can also be subjected to extreme thermal or corrosive conditions and mechanical testing right in SPL, explains Colin Judge, who, as INL’s division director for nuclear materials performance, oversees SPL and other facilities at the MFC.
SPL won’t go “hot” until January 2026, but Judge spoke with NN staff writer Susan Gallier about its capabilities as his team was moving instruments into the new facility.
Ad J. M. Buuron, Sjaak J. Beulens, Ries J. F. van de Sande, Daniel C. Schram, Jaap G. van der Laan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 4 | July 1991 | Pages 2049-2058
Technical Paper | Carbon Material Special | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29339
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An expanding cascaded arc plasma is used for the deposition of different types of carbon layers at high growth rates. Single diamond crystals of 60 µm and 25-µm-thick continuous films are deposited within 1 h on areas of ∼5 cm2. In recent experiments, pyrolytic graphite films have been deposited. Films up to 200 µm thick have been produced within 20 min on an area of ∼12 cm2. The film type and growth rate depend on the choice of the optimum reactor parameter settings. To maximize the growth rate and crystallinity of the film, the reactor settings are varied. High growth rates (maximum of 762 nm/s) have been obtained at high temperatures (600 to 1000°C). Several diagnostic techniques are used to analyze the film. The purity of the films has been confirmed by Auger electron spectroscopy.
