Alloying titanium and niobium via electron beam cold hearth melting

Technical Report · Fri Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1603870· OSTI ID:1603870

Wu, A. S. ^[1]; Torres, S. G. ^[1]; Pluschkell, T. P. ^[1]; DeMint, A. ^[2]; Shelly, B. R. ^[1]; Jones, J. I. ^[1]; Boutaleb, T. ^[1]; Flinsbach, J ^[3]; McKoon, R. ^[1]; Burke, S. C. ^[1]; Dixon, J. ^[1]; Mycroft, A. T. ^[1]; Linne, M. A. ^[1]; Ryerson, F. J. ^[1]; Sedillo, E. M. ^[1]; Jackson, C. ^[1]; Bridges, B. ^[2]; Wraith, M. W. ^[1]; Hamza, A. V. ^[1]; Campbell, G. H. ^[1] ; McLean, W. ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
2. Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
3. ALD Vacuum Technologies, GmbH, Hanau (Germany)

Electron beam cold hearth melting of titanium and niobium was performed to assess the feasibility of this technique for uranium processing and to determine system requirements for LLNL applications. The demonstration consisted of (1) alloying titanium and niobium, (2) feeding and melting scrap of various forms and (3) consolidating powder feedstock. Emphasis was placed on the former, with focused efforts to produce and deliver stoichiometric amounts of titanium and niobium to the hearth for alloying. This effort demonstrated the ability to melt via electron beam and cast titanium into a thin-walled (~0.06”) niobium tube. This process was performed repeatably and an optimal set of operational parameters was identified through an iterative approach. Three alloyed ingots were produced using niobium tubes filled with titanium, by casting and slip-fit. The alloyed ingots were characterized using multiple approaches and were shown to be comprised of columnar grains, low inclusion amounts and a small degree of ordered (center to edge, top to bottom) variation in niobium concentration. Based on these findings, it is concluded that alloying can be accomplished in a single step, without the need for an additional melting step after electron beam cold hearth melting. Details of these analyses, along with efforts to adopt cold hearth melting technology for scrap and powder recycle are provided herein.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1603870
• Report Number(s): LLNL-TR--791617; 990728
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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