High velocity corrosion testing of coated and uncoated BeO

Technical Report · Wed Dec 23 04:00:00 EST 1964

OSTI ID:4346428

Snider, G D; Folkers, C L; Rothman, A J

Declassified 26 Nov 1973. The experiments described were undertaken in connection with Project Pluto in an effort to measure the corrosion loss of unprotected BeO as a function of flow rate and temperature and to evaluate the protection afforded by various barrier materials at stmulated reactor conditions (100,000 Reynolds Number, 1650 deg C). The BeO elements were placed in furnaces or a corrosion test chamber. The first two are electrically heated furnaces, used at Reynolds numbers up to 160 and up to 6000, respectively. The third is a propane fired burner suitable for 1650 deg C and 100 deg 000 Reynolds number operation. Preheated most air was passed through the bore of the element. The high velocity corrosion chamber was capable or testing seven two-inch specimens simultaneously. The specimens were nested in a hexagonal module of nineteen alumina tubes. The results of these measurements present a fair evaluation of the protection afforded BeO by yttria-stabilized zirconia applied by slip-dipping at its present state of development. Extrapolated corrosion rates were 0.11 mg/ cm/sup 2/ h for 1 wt% water vapor at 1650 deg C, which represents a BeO loss of 0.3% in 10 h for the fuel elements at this operating temperature. The measurements made on uncoated BeO show good agreement with the values predicted using classical equations over 3 orders of magnitude in flow rate. (auth)

• Research Organization: California Univ., Livermore (USA). Lawrence Livermore Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• NSA Number: NSA-29-021320
• OSTI ID: 4346428
• Report Number(s): UCRL--12300-T(Summ.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

*BERYLLIUM OXIDES-- CORROSION
*PROPULSION REACTORS-- FUEL ELEMENTS
*YTTRIUM OXIDES-- DIPPED COATINGS
*ZIRCONIUM OXIDES-- DIPPED COATINGS
AIR
COATINGS
FLOW RATE
GAS FLOW
LOSSES
N50110* --Metals
Ceramics
& Other Materials--Ceramics & Cermets--Corrosion & Erosion & Surface Phenomena
N77800 --Reactors--Space
Mobile
Propulsion
Transportation & Package Reactors
STABILITY
VERY HIGH TEMPERATURE
WATER VAPOR