Cold spray chromium coating for nuclear fuel rods

Patent · 18 February 2020

OSTI ID:1632576

Lahoda, Edward J.; Xu, Peng; Karoutas, Zeses; Ray, Sumit; Sridharan, Kumar; Maier, Benjamin; Johnson, Greg

A method is provided for coating the substrate of a component, such as a zirconium alloy cladding tube, for use in a water cooled nuclear reactor under normal operating conditions and under high temperature oxidation conditions. The method includes heating a pressurized carrier gas to a temperature between 200° C. and 1200° C., adding chromium or chromium-based alloy particles having an average diameter of 20 microns or less to the heated carrier gas, and spraying the carrier gas and particles onto the substrate at a velocity, preferably from 800 to 4000 ft./sec. (about 243.84 to 1219.20 meters/sec.), to form a chromium and/or chromium-based alloy coating on the substrate to a desired thickness.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Cranberry Township, PA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: NE0008222
• Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp. (Cranberry Township, PA)
• Patent Number(s): 10,566,095
• Application Number: 15/284,076
• OSTI ID: 1632576
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY