Materials issues in high temperature ultrasonic transducers for under-sodium viewing

Journal Article · Thu May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4716407· OSTI ID:22004025

Bond, L J; Griffin, J W; Posakony, G J; Harris, R V; Baldwin, D L ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99354 (United States)

Liquid sodium is used as the coolant in some fast spectrum nuclear reactors. This material is optically opaque. To facilitate operations and maintenance activities, an ultrasonic under-sodium viewing system has been developed. In the USA, the technology was successfully demonstrated in the 1970s and, over the intervening 30+ years, the capability was lost. This paper reports materials challenges encountered in developing both single-element and linear phased-array 2-MHz transducers that must operate at temperatures up to 260 deg. C. The critical issues are fundamentally material selection: the ability of a transducer to be immersed into liquid sodium and function at 260 deg. C, to achieve wetting and transmission of ultrasound into the sodium, and to be able to be removed and re-used.

• OSTI ID: 22004025
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1430, Issue 1; Conference: 38. annual review of progress in quantitative nondestructive evaluation, Burlington, VT (United States), 17-22 Jul 2011; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
COOLANTS
LIQUID METALS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
MHZ RANGE
REACTOR INSTRUMENTATION
REACTOR MATERIALS
SODIUM
TRANSDUCERS