ARMY GAS-COOLED REACTOR SYSTEMS PROGRAM. EVALUATION OF NICKEL-BASED ALLOYS. Period Covered November 1958-November 1959

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1961

OSTI ID:4054789

Brunhouse, J S; Titus, G W

An evaluation program was undertaken to determine which of several nickel-based alloys wse best for cladding the individual fuel pins domprising the fuel elements for two reactor cores: the second cors of the Gas-cooled Reactor experiment, operating at NRTS, and ths first core of the ML-1, the prototype of a mobile low-power nuclear power plant. Six alloys (chosen from a wide range of commercially available, nickel-based alloys) were subjected to extensive screening: Inconel, Inconel-X, Inconel 702, Hastelloy X, Hastelloy R-235, and Inor 8. Tests performed on these alloys included; gas corrosion tests for periods up to 5OOO hr, in a 200-psi atmosphere of 99.5 vol.% nitro gen + 0.5 vol.% oxygen; air corrosion tests for 2500 hr at 300 psi; short-time room-temperature tensile tests; and short-time creep-rupture tests at vanious stresses. In addition to these thorough evaluations, the program also included more cursory examinations of several alternate alloys. Tests showed Hastelloy X to have the best combination of strength and corrosion resistance under the anticipated reactor operating conditions. Consequently, this alloy wse selected as the cladding material for the fuel pins. (auth)

• Research Organization: Aerojet-General Nucleonics, San Ramon, Calif.
• NSA Number: NSA-15-013967
• OSTI ID: 4054789
• Report Number(s): AGN-TM-361
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

AIR
ALUMINUM ALLOYS
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
COBALT ALLOYS
CORROSION
CREEP
FAILURES
FUEL CANS
FUEL ELEMENTS
GAS COOLANT
GCRE-1
HASTELLOY
INCONEL ALLOYS
INOR-8
ML-1
MOLYBDENUM ALLOYS
NICKEL ALLOYS
NIOBIUM ALLOYS
PRESSURE
REACTOR CORE
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
REACTORS
STRESSES
TENSILE PROPERTIES
TESTING
TITANIUM ALLOYS