Innovative Surfaces for Controlled Flow of Liquid Metal
- Ultramet, Pacoima, CA (United States)
The potential economic, environmental, and strategic benefits associated with the development of fusion energy are numerous. However, application of fusion technology cannot be realized until advanced materials are developed that allow operation under the high heat flux conditions necessary for cost-competitive electric energy generation. Bathing the wall of a fusion reactor plasma-facing component in a liquid metal such as lithium, gallium, or tin is a viable approach for accommodating continuous heat flux levels exceeding 10 MW/m2, and it is also the preferred approach for removing hydrogen isotopes. Stabilizing the liquid film is the key challenge, which can be addressed through the use of a microtextured surface. In previous work, Ultramet developed high temperature microtextured tungsten and rhenium coatings consisting of thousands of high aspect ratio pyramids per square millimeter that are compatible with lithium, gallium, and tin, and whose effectiveness in wicking molten lithium has been demonstrated even in the presence of strong body forces. Heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics were also modeled. Because of the safety issues surrounding lithium, the current project focused on adapting and optimizing this wicking technology for use with gallium and tin. The coatings were deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and the height, population density, and morphology of the pyramids was varied to optimize the wetting properties, which were measured and quantified by exposing the coatings to molten gallium or tin. Micron-thick films of other materials were also applied to the textured surfaces to vary the wetting characteristics. Wicking tests were performed with both gallium and tin on a variety of coatings with different textures and surface chemistries, and both metals showed excellent wicking and wettability on virtually all of the textured coatings. Extensive modeling of the interaction between the dendrites and the liquid metal, as well as additional wetting testing, was performed by Digital Materials Solutions (DMS, Carlsbad, CA).
- Research Organization:
- Ultramet, Pacoima, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
- Contributing Organization:
- Digital Materials Solutions (DMS, Carlsbad, CA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0013740
- OSTI ID:
- 1437664
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-ULTRAMET-0013740; ULTRA-TR-16-16237
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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