Internal attachment of laser beam welded stainless steel sheathed thermocouples into stainless steel upper end caps in nuclear fuel rods for the LOFT Reactor
The Exxon Nuclear Company, Inc., acting as a subcontractor to EG and G Idaho Inc., Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho, conducted a laser beam welding study to attach internal stainless steel thermocouples into stainless steel upper end caps in nuclear fuel rods. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of laser welding a single 0.063 inch diameter stainless steel (304) sheathed thermocouple into a stainless steel (316) upper end cap for nuclear fuel rods. A laser beam was selected because of the extremely high energy input in unit volume that can be achieved allowing local fusion of a small area irrespective of the difference in material thickness to be joined. A special weld fixture was designed and fabricated to hold the end cap and the thermocouple with angular and rotational adjustment under the laser beam. A commercial pulsed laser and energy control system was used to make the welds.
- Research Organization:
- Exxon Nuclear Co., Inc., Richland, WA (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-76ID01570
- OSTI ID:
- 5230526
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-800719-5; TRN: 80-014667
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International symposium of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, San Diego, CA, USA, 28 Jul 1980
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
LOFT REACTOR
FUEL RODS
THERMOCOUPLES
FABRICATION
LASER WELDING
PERFORMANCE
QUALITY ASSURANCE
STAINLESS STEEL-304
STAINLESS STEEL-316
WELDED JOINTS
ALLOYS
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
CHROMIUM STEELS
CHROMIUM-NICKEL STEELS
CORROSION RESISTANT ALLOYS
FUEL ELEMENTS
HEAT RESISTANT MATERIALS
HEAT RESISTING ALLOYS
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
JOINING
JOINTS
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MOLYBDENUM ALLOYS
NICKEL ALLOYS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
STAINLESS STEELS
STEELS
TANK TYPE REACTORS
TEST REACTORS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
WELDING
220600* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors