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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.
Vamsi Krishna K, Gopi Krishna C, Ateekh Ur Rehman, Kishore Babu Nagumothu, Mahesh Kumar Talari, Prakash Srirangam
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 2 | February 2024 | Pages 166-177
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2211723
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The current work aims to examine the influence of various welding speeds (500, 700, and 800 mm/min) on the microstructure and mechanical characteristics of electron beam–welded Ti-6Al-4V alloy joints. The base metal microstructure was composed of a slightly elongated α phase and a transformed β phase, whereas the fusion zone (FZ) exhibited an acicular martensitic α′ microstructure. This is due to faster cooling rates in the FZ associated with electron beam welding. The welds prepared with a 800 mm/min welding speed showed higher strength and lower ductility [yield strength (YS): 959 ± 6 MPa, ultimate tensile strength (UTS): 993 ± 5 MPa, percent elongation (%El): 8] compared to those prepared with 500 mm/min (YS: 909 ± 4 MPa, UTS: 956 ± 5 MPa, %El: 11). This was due to a decrease in the width of the α-platelets in the FZ owing to faster cooling rates at higher welding speeds. For all welding speeds, samples that underwent post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) displayed a noteworthy reduction in both UTS and hardness values compared to all the as-welded samples. However, the welds at lower welding speeds showed lower strength and higher ductility (YS: 868 ± 5 MPa, UTS: 922 ± 4 MPa, %El: 13) compared to higher welding speeds (YS: 892 ± 5 MPa, UTS: 938 ± 6 MPa, %El: 9) after PWHT. This is due to the formation of the diffusional product α + β phase in the FZ, as evidenced by the transmission electron microscope results.