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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.
A. H. Seltzman, S. J. Wukitch
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 79 | Number 5 | July 2023 | Pages 503-516
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2022.2147765
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) of Glenn Research Copper 42 or 84 (GRCop-42 or GRCop-84) produces a Cr2Nb precipitation-hardened high-conductivity copper alloy with tensile strength superior to other competing copper alloys. Precipitate diameters within GRCop-42 gas-atomized powder increase with powder diameter due to slower cooling rates, however, unlike GRCop-84, no threshold diameter above which extensive precipitate agglomerations form was observed in GRCop-42. Large Cr2Nb crystals were observed in GRCop-42 powder particles, implying formation within the crucible melt. A consistent precipitate volume of ~7% over a range of powder particle diameters indicated a consistent atomization process. Occasional voids were observed in GRCop-42 powder. Precipitate size was refined in L-PBF GRCop-42 to a greater extent than in GRCop-84, improving Orowan strengthening, however, this benefit was lost after heat treatment due to greater coarsening of precipitates. Precipitates in GRCop-42 accumulated on grain boundaries during heat treatment to a greater extent than in GRCop-84.
