Grain-boundary cavitation and weld-underbead cracking in DOP-26 iridium alloy
Plutonium-238 oxide fuel pellets for the General Purpose Heat Source Radioisotopic thermoelectric generators to be used on the NASA Galileo Mission to Jupiter and the International Solar Polar Mission are produced and encapsulated in DOP-26 iridium alloy at the Savannah River Plant. DOP-26 iridium alloy was developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and contains nominally 0.3 weight-percent tungsten, 60-ppM thorium and 50-ppM aluminum. Underbead cracks occasionally occur in the girth weld on the iridium alloy cladding in the area where the gas tungsten arc is quenched. A variety of electron beam techniques have been used to determine the cause of cracking. Results are discussed. (WHK)
- Research Organization:
- Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Lab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC09-76SR00001
- OSTI ID:
- 5939599
- Report Number(s):
- DP-MS-82-103; CONF-830815-9; ON: DE83015406
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
070300* -- Isotopic Power Supplies
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
300303 -- Thermoelectric Generators-- Materials
Components
& Auxiliaries
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360102 -- Metals & Alloys-- Structure & Phase Studies
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALLOYS
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CAPSULES
CAVITIES
CHALCOGENIDES
COMMINUTION
CONTAINERS
CRACKS
CREEP
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ENCAPSULATION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FRACTURING
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
HEAT SOURCES
HEAVY NUCLEI
IRIDIUM ALLOYS
IRIDIUM BASE ALLOYS
ISOTOPES
JOINTS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
MICROSCOPY
MICROSTRUCTURE
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
NUCLEI
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLATINUM METAL ALLOYS
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
RADIOISOTOPE HEAT SOURCES
RADIOISOTOPES
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
WELDED JOINTS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES