Trial fabrication of beryllides as advanced neutron multiplier

Abstract

Beryllium metal is considered as the neutron multiplier in the pebble bed blanket. On the other hand, advanced neutron multipliers with lower swelling and higher stability at high temperature are desired in pebble bed blankets for DEMO. Beryllium intermetallic compounds (beryllides) are the most promising advanced neutron multipliers. However, beryllides are too brittle to allow production of pebbles. Establishing fabrication techniques for beryllides is a key issue of advanced neutron multiplier development. In the previous study, it was clear that the intermetallic compound beryllides of Be–Ti can be directly synthesized by the plasma sintering method. In this study, it reports on the trial fabrication results of beryllides synthetic such as Be–V and Be–Nb using plasma sintering method for applicability evaluation of beryllide synthesis. The formation of Be–V and Be–Nb intermetallics was identified using a mixture of Be and V or Be and Nb particles for the plasma sintering method.