Improvements in manufacture of iridium alloy materials

Conference · Fri Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 1993 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.43195· OSTI ID:6801837

Ohriner, E K ^[1]

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1. Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6083 (United States)

Iridium alloys are used as fuel-cladding material in radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). Hardware produced at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been used in Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo, and Ulysses spacecrafts. This hardware was fabricated from small, 500-g drop-cast ingots. Porosity in these ingots and the resulting defects in the rolled sheets caused rejection of about 30% of the product. An improved manufacturing process was developed with the goal of substantially reducing the level of defects in the rolled sheets. The ingot size is increased to 10 kg and is produced by vacuum arc remelting. In addition, the ingot is hot extruded prior to rolling. Since implementation of the process in 1989, the average rate of rejection of the product has been reduced to below 10%.

• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6801837
• Report Number(s): CONF-930103--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States) Journal Volume: 271:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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