JOINING TECHNIQUES APPLICABLE TO FUEL ELEMENT FABRICATION
Several difficult joining problems were solved using welding techniques specifically developed for the application. Fuel cylinder end closure designs were evaluated, for use on a stainless steel clad NaK bonded tubular fuel element. Design changes were made, to eliminate microstress cracks in the cladding that resulted from high thermal gradients encountered in tungsten-arc machining welding. These changes resulted in the production of structurally sound end closures. A tungsten-arc spot-weId technique, for end closures of small diameter fuel tubes, was deveIoped and evaluated. This technique was used to fabricate metallurgically-sound and vacuum-tight end closures on Type 304 stainless steel cladding. Joining techniques for the end closure of extruded APM alloy M257 cladding were investigated and evaluated. A tungsten-arc, fusion-welded end closure was developed. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Atomics International. Div. of North American Aviation, Inc., Canoga Park, Calif.
- NSA Number:
- NSA-16-006693
- OSTI ID:
- 4803679
- Report Number(s):
- NAA-SR-Memo-5887
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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