Measurement and analysis of specific heat capacity of lead-bismuth eutectic

Abstract

The lead-cooled fast reactor is a fourth-generation nuclear system with great development potential. Lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) is used as the coolant of lead-cooled fast reactor, and specific heat capacity of LBE is a necessary parameter for studying the heat transfer in the primary loop. However, the experimental data on specific heat capacity of LBE are limited. There are only three independent data could be found in open literature, and the measurement error of the existing data is about 5%~7%. In this paper, specific heat capacity of LBE at 30–600 °C is studied by differential scanning calorimetry and the reliability and uncertainty of the data are analyzed. The recommended value of LBE's specific heat capacity at 150–600 °C is 0.1342–0.1495 J kg−1 °C−1. The results show that the measurement error of this method is about 0.62%, the maximum composite uncertainty of LBE's specific heat capacity is 1.83%, and the expanded uncertainty is 3.66% (k = 2). The experimental data have high reliability and can provide data support for thermal-hydraulic design in lead-cooled fast reactor.