Development of single crystal filaments. Final report

Abstract

The program just completed addresses a route to a more efficient longer-lasting electric light bulb filament. All current filaments for light bulbs are metallic in nature. They are subject to embrittlement with age (large grain growth) and relatively high vapor pressures which limits their operating temperature. There is evidence which suggests advantages to using high temperature refractory single crystal fibers as a filament for a light bulb. These refractory materials may include materials such as hafnium or tantalum carbide which have melting points about 500{degrees}C higher than tungsten. Another advantage is that single crystal fibers have a very high degree of crystalline perfection with very few voids and dislocations. Without these imperfections, the atomic mobility at high temperatures is highly restricted. Thus single crystal fibers are very stable at high temperature and will last longer. The efficiencies result from running these single crystal ceramic fiber filaments at higher temperatures and the higher emissivity of the carbide filaments compared to tungsten. The amount of visible light is proportional to the 4the power of the temperature thus a 500{degrees}C higher operating give about a 3-fold increase in radiation in the visible range. The program accomplishments can be summarized as follows: (1) Singlemore » crystal fibers of JfC sufficient crystal quality for light bulb filament applications were made. (2) The HfC fiber furnace growth chamber, power control and data collection system was developed for the laboratory scale plant. (3) method for mounting and apparatuses for testing the single crystal fiber filaments were developed and built.« less