EFFECT OF THERMAL PROCESSES ON COPPER-TIN ALLOYS FOR ZINC GETTERING
A contamination mitigation plan was initiated to address the discovery of radioactive zinc‐65 in a glovebox. A near term solution was developed, installation of heated filters in the glovebox piping. This solution is effective at retaining the zinc in the currently contaminated area, but the gamma emitting contaminant is still present in a system designed for tritium beta. A project was initiated to develop a solution to contain the {sup 65}Zn in the furnace module. Copper and bronze (a Cu/Sn alloy) were found to be candidate materials to combine with zinc‐65 vapor, using thermodynamic calculations. A series of binary Cu/Sn alloys were developed (after determining that commercial alloys were unacceptable), that were found to be effective traps of zinc vapor. The task described in this report was undertaken to determine if the bronze substrates would retain their zinc gettering capability after being exposed to simulated extraction conditions with oxidizing and reducing gases. Pure copper and three bronze alloys were prepared, exposed to varying oxidation conditions from 250 to 450{degree}C, then exposed to varying reduction conditions in He-H{sub 2} from 250-450{degree}C, and finally exposed to zinc vapor at 350{degree}C for four hours. The samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, mass change, and visual observation. It was observed that the as fabricated samples and the reduced samples all retained their zinc gettering capacity while samples in the "as-oxidized" condition exhibited losses in zinc gettering capacity. Over the range of conditions tested, i.e., composition, oxidation temperature, and reduction temperature, no particular sample composition appeared better. Samples reduced at 350{degree}C exhibited the greatest zinc capacity, although there were some testing anomalies associated with these samples. This work clearly demonstrated that the zinc gettering was not adversely affected by exposure to simulated process conditions and a full scale lithium and zinc trap should be fabricated for testing in the Tritium Extraction Facility.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-08SR22470
- OSTI ID:
- 1098218
- Report Number(s):
- SRNL-STI-2013-00625
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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