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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.
Hemant Kumar, K. V. Phani Prabhakar, Shiju Sam, S. K. Albert, G. Padmanabham, A. K. Bhaduri, T. Jayakumar, E. Rajendra Kumar
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 66 | Number 1 | July-August 2014 | Pages 192-199
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-747
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Laser and laser hybrid welding are among the processes chosen for joining Indian reduced activation ferritic martensitic (INRAFM) steel that will be used for fabrication of Indian test blanket modules (TBMs) to be tested in ITER. In the present study, a 3.5 kW slab CO2 laser in autogenous mode and hybridized mode with MIG were successfully employed to make butt joints in plates 6 mm and 12 mm thick respectively. Initially, bead-on-plate (BOP) experiments were conducted to study the effect of various laser and laser hybrid welding parameters such as laser power, welding speed, MIG torch angle, wire feed rate, composition of torch gas, gas shielding arrangement, stand off, distance between arc and laser, and focal position of the laser with respect to the surface. The resultant weld beads were evaluated for weld penetration, width of the weld, and width of the HAZ. Based on BOP welding studies, parameters were chosen for carrying out butt welding experiments using square butt for 6 mm plates and Y-groove edged configurations for 12 mm thick plates with various root face heights and included angles. The radiography results showed that all the welds were acceptable as per ASME Section III. The welds were also evaluated using hardness tests, metallographic analysis, and tensile, bend, and impact tests.
