Methodology of Corrosion Testing of Nuclear and Fusion Reactors Materials Using TGA/DSC and MS Complex Techniques

I.S Karambayeva,K.K Samarkhanov,S.K Askerbekov,V.S Bochkov,Yu.V Ponkratov

doi:10.18321/ectj787

I.S Karambayeva, K.K Samarkhanov + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.18321/ectj787

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Abstract

The behavior of structural materials of nuclear and fusion reactors during operation largely determines their safe and economical work. Structural materials of nuclear and fusion reactors are operating under conditions of interaction with various chemical active elements (gases, vapor-gas mixtures, fission products, etc.) in a wide temperature range; they are subject to high requirements in terms of their thermal and corrosion resistance. This paper presents the new methodology of complex studies on structural materials corrosion resistance of nuclear and fusion reactors with different gases and vapor-gas mixtures by thermal-gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential-scanning calorimetry (DSC) and mass spectrometry (MS) methods simultaneously.

Highlights

The National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NNC of RK) at various times tested the materials of nuclear and fusion reactors such as lithium ceramics, beryllium, vanadium and vanadium alloys, liquid metal systems for fusion reactor’s blankets, graphite materials of the High Temperature Gas Reactors (HTGR), etc. [1,2,3,4,5].Usually, the experiments were carried out by studying the change in the gas composition in the chamber with the sample being tested (for example, using the thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) method), which made it possible to evaluate the processes of the above mentioned materials interaction with gases
In the study of beryllium, it was important to take into account its thermal sputtering
The differential-scanning calorimetry (DSC) method is based on the continuous recording of the heat flux difference from/to the investigated sample and reference sample as a function of temperature or time when samples are heated in accordance with a Methodology of Corrosion Testing of Nuclear and Fusion Reactors Materials Using thermal-gravimetric analysis (TGA)/DSC

Summary

Introduction

The National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NNC of RK) at various times tested the materials of nuclear and fusion reactors such as lithium ceramics, beryllium, vanadium and vanadium alloys, liquid metal systems for fusion reactor’s blankets, graphite materials of the High Temperature Gas Reactors (HTGR), etc. [1,2,3,4,5]. The DSC method is based on the continuous recording of the heat flux difference from/to the investigated sample and reference sample (change in enthalpy) as a function of temperature or time when samples are heated in accordance with a Methodology of Corrosion Testing of Nuclear and Fusion Reactors Materials Using TGA/DSC specific program in a given gas atmosphere. This method provides information on the temperatures and heats of phase transitions, thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions, chemical composition, and purity, thermal and oxidative stability of various materials. Specifications temperature range from 22 to 1600 °С; heating rate from 0.02 to 150 °С/min simultaneous determination of 128 different atomic masses in the range from 1 amu up to 300 amu range of relative humidity: from 2 to 98 %

Methodical experiment

Results and discussion

Conclusions