Fabrication and Characterization of a Conduction Cooled Thermal Neutron Filter
Installation of a conduction cooled thermal (low-energy) neutron filter in an existing domestic test reactor would provide the U.S. the capability to test new reactor fuels and materials for advanced fast (high-energy) reactor concepts. A composite consisting of Al3Hf-Al has been proposed for the neutron filter due to both the neutron filtering properties of hafnium and the conducting capabilities of aluminum. Knowledge of the thermal conductivity of the Al3Hf-Al composite is essential for the design of the filtering system. The present objectives are to identify a suitable fabrication technique and to measure the thermophysical properties of the Al3Hf intermetallic, which has not been done previous to this study. A centrifugal casting method was used to prepare samples of Al3Hf. X-ray diffraction and Rietveld analysis were conducted to determine the structural make-up of each of the samples. Thermophysical properties were measured as follows: specific heat by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), thermal diffusivity by a laser flash thermal diffusivity measuring system, thermal expansion by a dilatometer, and thermal conductivity was calculated based on the previous measurements. All measurements were acquired over a temperature range of 90°C - 375°C with some measurements outside these bounds. The average thermal conductivity of the intermetallic Al3Hf (~7 at.% Hf) was found to be ~ 41 W/m-K for the given temperature range. This information fills a knowledge gap in the thermophysical properties of the intermetallic Al3Hf with the specified percentage of hafnium. A model designed to predict composite properties was used to calculate a thermal conductivity of ~177 W/m-K for an Al3Hf-Al composite with 23 vol% Al3Hf. This calculation was based upon the average thermal conductivity of Al3Hf over the specified temperature range.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 984547
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-10-17880; TRN: US1005942
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICAPP'10,San Diego, CA,06/13/2010,02/17/2010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ALUMINIUM
CALORIMETERS
CASTING
DESIGN
FABRICATION
HAFNIUM
LASERS
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
SPECIFIC HEAT
TEST REACTORS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY
THERMAL EXPANSION
THERMAL NEUTRONS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
neutron filter
fast neutron testing
fast neutron