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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.
Norikatsu Yokota, Shigehiro Shimoyashiki
Nuclear Technology | Volume 81 | Number 3 | June 1988 | Pages 407-414
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A16061
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The characteristics of self-welding of fast breeder reactor structural materials in liquid sodium have been investigated. A maximum contact pressure of 98 MPa was loaded on the materials (Type 304, Type 321, Inconel 718, and 2.25 Cr-1Mo steel) for 100 to 900 h in sodium at 505 to 550°C. Shear stress for breakaway between the bonded material couples is in proportion to contact pressure. The 2.25 Cr-1 Mo steel welded to itself is the strongest combination among couples of the same material. Each pair of two materials chosen from Type 304, Type 321, and Inconel 718 materials shows almost the same self-welding coefficient, which is defined as the ratio between shear stress for breakaway and contact pressure on testing. Self-welding coefficients are in proportion to the square root of the contact periods and increase as the temperature of sodium is elevated. The apparent activation energy obtained from the self-welding coefficient is ∼188 kJ/mol for the combination of 2.25 Cr-1 Mo/2.25 Cr-1 Mo, and 218 kJ/mol for Type 304/Type 304 or Type 304/Type 321.
