POWER REACTOR PROGRAM. Progress Report to Savannah River Operations Office, United States Atomic Energy Commission for the Period August 1, 1962-August 31, 1962

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1962

OSTI ID:4704380

Isserow, S; Anderson, R W; Larson, W L

Hardness testing of U--350 ppm Fe--900 ppm Al at elevated temperatures has shown that a hardness transition temperature above 400 deg C cannot be developed in beta treated specimens by subsequent alpha-phase heat treatments. Marked improvement of the extrusion behavior of the Al--Fe--U composition is obtained by the addition of 400 ppm Si, This addition permits achievement of a smooth surface in the extruded alloy without the usual alphaphase working of the billet. The smoothness of an extruded surface is not predicted by metallographic observations of the grain size of the billet. The susceptibility to cracking during oil quenching from the beta phase increased as the Si content increased to 1100 ppm. Limited data on the hot hardness and microstructure of Al-Si-U alloys showed that this system has properties believed desirable in a fuel alloy and warrants further development. A survey of the elevated temperature properties was completed for dilute cast alloys containing to 1.5 wt% Mo. ft was found that maximum solid solution hardening at 600 deg C is obtained with 1000 ppm Mo. The solid solution hardening by Mo at 600 deg C is greater than the hardening by Fe, Al and Si, singly or in combination. It was also found that metastable increases of hardnesses and hardness transition temperature can be developed in alloys containing 0.15 and 0.4 wt% Mo. Aging at 540 deg C reduces the metastable properties to the solid solution hardening level. Relatively stable increases in hardness and hardness transition temperature can be obtained with additions of at least 1 wt% Mo. In the effort to develop procedures to braze end closures ranging from 0.25 to 1.0 in. long in coextruded tube sections, further data were obtained on the conditions of heat application and extraction necessary to obtain high quality closures. (auth)

• Research Organization: Nuclear Metals, Inc., Concord, Mass.
• NSA Number: NSA-17-011095
• OSTI ID: 4704380
• Report Number(s): NMI-7254
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALUMINUM
ALUMINUM ALLOYS
BRAZING
CASTING
CLOSURES
COOLING
CRACKS
EXTRUSION
GRAIN SIZE
HARDNESS
HEAT TREATMENTS
IRON
IRON ALLOYS
LATTICES
METALLOGRAPHY
METALS, CERAMICS, AND OTHER MATERIALS
MOLYBDENUM ALLOYS
OILS
PHASE DIAGRAMS
POWER PLANTS
REACTORS
RODS
SILICON
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SOLID SOLUTIONS
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE
TEMPERING
TESTING
TRACE AMOUNTS
TUBES
URANIUM ALLOYS