Helium Content Research Articles

Helium abundance in a sample of cool stars: measurements from asteroseismology

The structural stratification of a solar-type main sequence star primarily depends on its mass and chemical composition. The surface heavy element abundances of the solar-type stars are reasonably well determined using conventional spectroscopy, however the second most abundant element helium is not. This is due to the fact that the envelope temperature of such stars is not high enough to excite helium. Since the helium abundance of a star affects its structure and subsequent evolution, the uncertainty in the helium abundance of a star makes estimates of its global properties (mass, radius, age etc.) uncertain as well. The detections of the signatures of the acoustic glitches from the precisely measured stellar oscillation frequencies provide an indirect way to estimate the envelope helium content. We use the glitch signature caused by the ionization of helium to determine the envelope helium abundance of 38 stars in the {\it Kepler} seismic LEGACY sample. Our results confirm that atomic diffusion does indeed take place in solar-type stars. We use the measured surface abundances in combination with the settling predicted by the stellar models to determine the initial abundances. The initial helium and metal mass fractions have subsequently been used to get the preliminary estimates of the primordial helium abundance, $Y_p = 0.244\pm0.019$, and the galactic enrichment ratio, $\Delta Y / \Delta Z = 1.226\pm0.849$. Although the current estimates have large errorbars due to the limited sample size, this method holds great promises to determine these parameters precisely in the era of upcoming space missions.

Helium bubble nucleation at grain boundaries and its influence on intergranular fracture

ABSTRACTAn in-depth understanding of the formation of intergranular helium bubbles and its relation to embrittlement is an important issue in the nuclear industry. In this paper, a thermodynamic model is developed to analyze the nucleation of intergranular helium bubbles. Microstructural observation using scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction gives a detailed description for the relation between the bubble formation and the grain-boundary (GB) misorientation in helium-implanted nickel and Inconel X750. The theoretical and the experimental results confirm that the nucleation of intergranular helium bubbles is GB structure-dependent, the helium-to-vacancy ratio plays an important role in the bubble precipitation, and the interfacial tension of bubbles cannot be approximated to be the interfacial energy. The bubble-induced intergranular embrittlement in a polycrystal is modelled. The GB misorientation distribution, the intergranular bubble nucleation and growth and the GB connectivity are the key factors affecting the GB fracture toughness. The hoop ductility of the cladding tubes containing helium is analyzed. The hoop stress-induced increase in the GB energy promotes the precipitation of bubbles at the radial GBs and lead to the loss of tube ductility. Based on this work, the complicated correlation among the intergranular helium bubbles, the GB structure, the helium concentration, the applied stress and the helium embrittlement is clarified.

Nanoindentation and TEM to Study the Cavity Fate after Post-Irradiation Annealing of He Implanted EUROFER97 and EU-ODS EUROFER.

The effect of post-helium irradiation annealing on bubbles and nanoindentation hardness of two reduced activation ferritic martensitic steels for nuclear fusion applications (EUROFER97 and EU-ODS EUROFER) has been studied. Helium-irradiated EUROFER97 and EU-ODS EUROFER were annealed at 450 °C for 100 h in an argon atmosphere. The samples were tested by nanoindentation and studied by transmission electron microscopy extracting some focused ion beam lamellae containing the whole implanted zone (≈50 µm). A substantial increment in nanoindentation hardness was measured in the area with higher helium content, which was larger in the case of EUROFER97 than in EU-ODS EUROFER. In terms of microstructure defects, while EU-ODS EUROFER showed larger helium bubbles, EUROFER97 experienced the formation of a great population density of them, which means that the mechanism that condition the evolution of cavities for these two materials are different and completely dependent on the microstructure.

Superheating and spontaneous boiling-up of liquid propane (R-290) saturated with helium

The method of lifetime measurement has been used to investigate the kinetics of spontaneous boiling-up of superheated liquid propane (R290) with helium dissolved in it. The temperature dependence of the nucleation rate has been determined in the range from J = 3·104 to 108 s−1m−3 at pressures p = 1.6, 1.9 MPa and helium concentrations x = 0.05, 0.11 mol %. The results of experiments have been compared with classical nucleation theory (CNT). At J > 3·106 s−1m−3 the superheating temperatures achieved by experiment are 0.3–0.7 K lower than their theoretical values.

He–Ar–S Isotopic Compositions of Polymetallic Sulphides from Hydrothermal Vent Fields along the Ultraslow-Spreading Southwest Indian Ridge and Their Geological Implications

Noble gases have become a powerful tool to constrain the origin and evolution of ore-forming fluids in seafloor hydrothermal systems. The aim of this study was to apply these tracers to understand the genesis of newly discovered polymetallic sulphide deposits along the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). The helium, argon, and sulphur isotope compositions of metal sulphide minerals were measured for a number of active/inactive vent fields in the Indian Ocean. The helium concentrations and isotopic ratios in these ore samples are variable (4He: 0.09–2.42 × 10−8 cm3STP∙g−1; 3He: 0.06–3.28 × 10−13 cm3STP∙g−1; 3He/4He: 1.12–9.67 Ra) and generally greater than the modern atmosphere, but significantly lower than those in massive sulphides from the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise (EPR), especially for three Cu–Fe-rich samples from the ultramafic-hosted Tianzuo and Kairei vent fields. On the contrary, most of the SWIR sulphide deposits have somewhat higher 40Ar/36Ar ratios of trapped fluids (ranging from 290.6 to 303.4) when compared to the EPR ore samples. Moreover, the majority of sulphide minerals from the Indian Ocean have much higher δ34S values (3.0‰–9.8‰, ~5.9 on average, n = 49) than other basaltic-hosted active hydrothermal systems on the EPR. Overall, these He–Ar–S results are well within the range of seafloor massive sulphide deposits at global sediment-starved mid-ocean ridges (MORs), lying between those of air-saturated water (ASW) and mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) end members. Therefore, our study suggests that the helium was derived mainly from the MORB mantle by degassing during the high-temperature stage of hydrothermal activity, as well as from a mixture of vent fluids with variable amounts of ambient seawater during either earlier or late-stage low-temperature hydrothermal episodes, whereas the argon in ore-forming fluids trapped within sulphide minerals was predominantly derived from deep-sea water. Additionally, relatively high δ34S values exhibit a great estimated proportion (up to nearly 40%) of seawater-derived components. In summary, sub-seafloor extensive fluid circulation, pervasive low-temperature alteration, shallow seawater entrainment, and mixing processes, may make a larger contribution to the SWIR hydrothermal ore-forming systems, compared to fast-spreading centres.

Investigation of lubricant transfer and distribution at head/disk interface in air-helium gas mixtures

Lubricant transfer and distribution at the head/disk interface in air-helium gas mixtures is investigated using a developed model that combines an air-bearing model with a molecular dynamics model. The pressure distribution is calculated by the air-bearing model at the head/disk interface with respect to the helium content and the pressure obtained is then input to the molecular dynamics model to understand the lubricant transfer mechanism. Finally, the effects of pressure at the boundary condition and disk velocity on lubricant transfer are discussed in relation to the helium fraction within the air-helium gas mixtures. Results show there is a decrease in the pressure difference with an increase in the helium percentage, which leads to a decrease in the volume of the lubricant transferred. The results also suggest that the lubricant is not easily to transfer in gas mixtures with a high percentage of helium, even when both higher disk velocities and pressure boundary conditions are applied.

Continuum-scale modeling of helium bubble bursting under plasma-exposed tungsten surfaces

We present a comparison between a continuum-scale drift-diffusion-reaction cluster dynamics prediction of helium retention in low-energy helium plasma exposed tungsten and experimental measurements, in a temperature regime that did not produce tungsten fuzz. Our cluster dynamics model, Xolotl, has been successfully benchmarked to high helium implantation flux MD simulations at relatively low implanted fluence. In this article, we also describe the extension of the Xolotl DDR model to incorporate the effect of bubble bursting, which is observed in very high rate MD simulations, as well as MD simulations at longer times than simulated in our prior benchmarking comparison. The bursting model parameters have been tuned by comparing to MD simulations at a flux of 5.0 × 1027 m−2 s−1, and also compared to lower implanted fluence simulations performed at ~4.0 × 1025 m−2 s−1. This article then reports on the consistency of the Xolotl predictions with respect to the size of the simulated cluster phase space (i.e. the maximum cluster size), initial vacancy concentration, and bubble growth trajectory (maximum number of helium atoms per vacancy). Finally, our simulation results are compared to helium plasma experiments that did not produce fuzz. While the Xolotl predictions including bubble bursting are in quantitative agreement with high-flux MD simulations, the initial comparison to plasma exposure experiments at a flux on the order of 1021 m−2 s−1 disagree by more than an order of magnitude, and in fact cannot reproduce the trends in helium retention with varying exposure temperature. Modifying the initial vacancy concentrations and helium cluster diffusion behavior in Xolotl leads to a reasonable agreement with the experimental observations, although the underlying physical explanation for these modifications remains unclear. The predicted helium content at experimentally relevant fluxes has been shown to be relatively insensitive to the parameters used in the bubble bursting model implemented in Xolotl, although these parameters have a larger influence at higher flux. More systematic comparisons between the modeling predictions with both experiments and MD simulation results is expected to improve the bubble bursting model in Xolotl in the future.

Effect of Helium-Induced Pressure and Temperature on Lubricant Transfer in Helium–Air-Filled Hard Disk Drives

A numerical model combined an air-bearing model with a molecular dynamics model is used to investigate lubricant transfer at the spacing between slider and disk in helium–air-filled drives. The physical properties of the helium–air gas mixtures are calculated with respect to the content of helium. Then, the pressure and temperature distributions induced by helium at the head/disk interface are obtained based on the air-bearing model. Furthermore, the obtained pressure and temperature are used as the inputs of the molecular dynamics model to study the mechanism of lubricant transfer. The results show that the lubricant volume transferred to the air-bearing surface increases with an increase in pressure and temperature. The volume of lubricant transfer decreases slightly as the helium volume in the gas mixture increases from 0% to 80%, after which, the transferred lubricant greatly decreases.

Asteroseismic age estimates of RGB stars in open clusters

Context.Open clusters (OCs) provide a classical target to calibrate the age scale and other stellar parameters. Despite their wide use, some issues remain to be explored in detail.Aims.We performed a theoretical investigation focused on the age estimate of red giant branch (RGB) stars in OCs based on mixed classical surface (Teffand [Fe/H]) and asteroseismic (Δνandνmax) parameters. We aimed to evaluate the performances of three widely adopted fitting procedures, that is, a pure geometrical fit, a maximum likelihood approach, and a single stars fit, in recovering stellar parameters.Methods.A dense grid of stellar models was computed, covering different chemical compositions and different values of the mixing-length parameter. Artificial OCs were generated from these data by means of a Monte Carlo procedure for two different ages (7.5 and 9.0 Gyr) and two different choices of the number of stars in the RGB evolutionary phase (35 and 80). The cluster age and other fundamental parameters were then recovered by means of the three methods previously mentioned. A Monte Carlo Markov chain approach was adopted for estimating the posterior densities of probability of the estimated parameters.Results.The geometrical approach overestimated the age by about 0.3 and 0.2 Gyr for true ages of 7.5 and 9.0 Gyr, respectively. The value of the initial helium content was recovered unbiased within the large random errors on the estimates. The maximum likelihood approach provided similar biases (0.1 and 0.2 Gyr) but with a variance reduced by a factor of between two and four with respect to geometrical fit. The independent fit of single stars showed a very large variance owing to its neglect of the fact that the stars came from the same cluster. The age of the cluster was recovered with no biases for 7.5 Gyr true age and with a bias of −0.4 Gyr for 9.0 Gyr. The most important difference between geometrical and maximum likelihood approaches was the robustness against observational errors. For the first fitting technique, we found that estimations starting from the same sample but with different Gaussian perturbations on the observables suffer from a variability in the recovered mean of about 0.3 Gyr from one Monte Carlo run to another. This value was as high as 45% of the intrinsic variability due to observational errors. On the other hand, for the maximum likelihood fitting method, this value was about 65%. This larger variability led most simulations – up to 90% – to fail to include the true parameter values in their estimated 1σcredible interval. Finally, we compared the performance of the three fitting methods for single RGB-star age estimation. The variability owing to the choice of the fitting method was minor, being about 15% of the variability caused by observational uncertainties.Conclusions.Each method has its own merits and drawbacks. The single star fit showed the lowest performances. The higher precision of the maximum likelihood estimates is partially negated by the lower protection that this technique shows against random fluctuations compared to the pure geometrical fit. Ultimately, the choice of the fitting method has to be evaluated in light of the specific sample and evolutionary phases under investigation.

Large Scale Experiments Representing a Containment Natural Circulation Loop during an Accident Scenario

The assessment of hydrogen release, distribution, and mitigation measures in the containment of a nuclear power plant is increasingly based on code calculations. These calculations require state-of-the-art experiments to benchmark the codes against them. Two of these experiments are presented in this paper. These experiments were conducted in the PANDA facility (Switzerland) in the framework of the OECD/NEA HYMERES project. The experiments consider natural circulation flow in a two-room type containment where flow loops can form between the inner and the outer zones. During normal operation these zones are separated and in the case of an accident they become either connected by the opening of rupture disks, convective foils, and dampers or connected by bursting of doors and opening of other connections between compartments. For the experiments considered here one lower PANDA-vessel represents the steam generator (SG) tower and the inaccessible area whereas the other vessel represents the outer room area. The lower vessels are isolated from one another except for a small aperture that represents the damper. The two upper vessels—representing the containment dome—are connected to the lower vessels through tubes. The scenario consisted of four phases. In phase 1, a high steam mass flow rate was injected in the vessel representing the SG tower. After the relaxation phase 2, helium (representing hydrogen) was injected in the same vessel (phase 3). Finally in phase 4 no active interventions were done until the end of the test. Two tests were conducted to evaluate the developing helium transport by the natural circulation flow: one with and one without damper (by closing the aperture). The results showed that a two-room containment (TRC) mixing scenario can be well represented with the PANDA facility. It is found that, with the mixing damper open, a global natural circulation loop develops over all four vessels, whereas with closed damper the natural circulation loop is established only between the three vessels representing the inner zone and the upper dome. It is shown that the presence of the damper has a strong effect on the resulting helium content in the inner zone with 3 times less helium at the end of the test compared with the configuration without damper. The formation of a stable helium stratification in the upper vessels was observed in the presence of the open damper.

High-Pressure Aging of Asymmetric Torlon® Hollow Fibers for Helium Separation from Natural Gas

Membrane separation for helium extraction from natural gas gained increased interest recently. Several vendors offer membrane elements for helium extraction, although data on their performance and operating experience are unpublished. The aim of this work was to obtain and study the separation performance of asymmetric hollow-fiber membrane element from commercial polyamide-imide Torlon®, in conditions close to the industrial process of helium extraction from natural gas. A membrane element with an active area of 0.177 m2, a helium permeance of 100 l(STP)/(m2·h·bar), and a selectivity α(He/CH4) = 340 was produced. This corresponds to a selective layer thickness of 82.3 nm, which was confirmed by SEM and resistance model calculations. The obtained membrane element was employed to decrease the concentration of helium in its binary mixture with methane from 0.4% to 0.05%. A relationship of separation characteristics from transmembrane pressure is also presented. At 70 bar and a stage cut of 2.7%, the feed flow rate was 0.16 m3(STP)/h, which yielded a helium permeate concentration of 14.7%. At 80 bar, a decrease in permeance to 60 l(STP)/(m2·h·bar) and in selectivity to 240 was observed. It was shown that the main reason for aging was the increased support resistance, due to a partial compaction of pores with a radius of less than 15 nm.

Effects of interstitial defects on stress-driven grain boundary migration in bcc tungsten

We demonstrate via atomistic simulations that the addition of interstitial defects, either self-interstitials or helium can induce jog formation at grain boundary dislocations in bcc tungsten. For the two typical GBs with distinct dislocation structures, we show that the critical stress for stress-driven grain boundary migration is governed by the competition between the impeding effect of vacancy/helium and the facilitating effect of jogs depending on the grain boundary character, thus yielding different response of critical stress to defect concentrations. Specifically, for self-interstitials, the impeding effect of nucleated vacancies dominates in the ∑85 GB, while the facilitating effect of jogs dominates in the ∑13 GB; for helium, the impeding effect of helium plays a dominant role in both GBs. Moreover, we reveal a transition from coupled migration to pure sliding at high helium concentrations.

A comparison study into low leak rate buoyant gas dispersion in a small fuel cell enclosure using plain and louvre vent passive ventilation schemes

Hydrogen, producing electricity in fuel cells, is a versatile energy source, but with risks associated with flammability. Fuel cells use enclosures for protection which need ventilating to remove hydrogen emitted during normal operation or from supply system leaks. Passive ventilation, using buoyancy driven flow is preferred to mechanical systems. Performance depends upon vent design, size, shape, position and number. Vents are usually plain rectangular openings, but environmentally situated enclosures use louvres for protection. The effect of louvres on passive ventilation is not clear and has therefore been examined in this paper. Comparison ‘same opening area’ louvre and plain vent tests were undertaken using a 0.144 m3 enclosure with opposing upper and lower vents and helium leaking from a 4 mm nozzle on the base at rates from 1 to 10 lpm, simulating a hydrogen leak. Louvres increased stratified level helium concentrations by typically in excess of 15%. The empirical data obtained was also used in a validation exercise with a SolidWorks: Flow Simulation CFD model, which provided a good qualitative representation of flow behaviour and close empirical data correlations.

Evolution of the tensile properties of the tempered martensitic steel Eurofer97 after spallation irradiation at SINQ

Small disk tensile specimens of the reduced activation tempered martensitic steel Eurofer97 were tested from −100 °C up to 370 °C before and after irradiation in the spallation source SINQ at Paul Scherrer Institute. The calculated irradiation dose and helium content are respectively 11 dpa and 540 appm. Even for such a large dose, the tensile curves showed a significant total elongation at all testing temperatures. Fractographic observations revealed a predominance of cleavage facets at −100 °C for unirradiated and irradiated specimens while at higher temperature the fracture surfaces were dominated by ductile dimples. True stress/strain curves were derived using a finite element based inverse method for simulating small disk tensile tests. The finite element simulations indicated that the local fracture stress in the neck is consistent with that calibrated based on fracture tests and that the micro-mechanisms of fracture were not affected by helium up to 540 appm.

Defect-interface interactions in irradiated Cu/Ag nanocomposites

In this work, we employ transmission electron microscopy and helium ion irradiation to study the response of biphase interfaces to radiation induced point defect fluxes from the two adjoining phases. Analysis of interface-affected defect accumulation was carried out over a wide range of radiation damage levels from near zero displacement per atom (dpa) to 16 dpa and helium concentrations of 0 at.% to 8 at.%. Results show a strong interface density dependence in which Cu/Ag interfaces in the nanolayered regions spaced <500 nm were remarkably microstructural stable over the entire range without accumulating micro-scale defects, while those spaced >1 μm apart were destroyed. We report the concomitant development of a bubble-free zone in Cu that was independent of defect levels and interface-contacting bubbles zone in Ag. This finding is explained by bias segregation to the interface of interstitials from Ag and vacancies to misfit dislocation nodes in the interface from Cu. The point defect transfer across the interface can be explained by the spatial variation in interface pressure within the interface and gradient in pressure across the interface, both originating from the lattice mismatch and surface energy difference between the two crystals.

Micro-structural effects of irradiation temperature and helium content in neutron irradiated B-alloyed Eurofer97-1 steel

The micro-structural effects of different neutron irradiation temperatures and helium contents, for 16 dpa dose, have been investigated by means of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) in B-alloyed ferritic/martensitic steel Eurofer97-1 (0.12 C, 9 Cr, 0.2 V, 1.08 W wt%, B concentrations up to 1000 ppm); due to B transmutations, fusion relevant He/dpa values are expected to be produced under neutron irradiation. SANS measurements have been carried out on a sample irradiated at 350 °C, with estimated helium content of 5600 appm, and compared to previous SANS results, obtained on two other irradiated samples of this same B-alloyed steel. These new measurements confirm that for such high helium contents the SANS cross-section increases in order of magnitude and the magnetic SANS component is strongly reduced, compared to lower helium content (400 appm). Such effects are attributed to increase in helium bubbles density and to the presence of micro-cavities, produced after dissolution of large B-carbides. The SANS data analysis procedure has been improved, also thanks to the additional information provided by the new measurements, and more accurate helium bubble size distributions have been obtained for all the investigated samples. For 5600 appm helium content, bubble volume fractions are found of 0.025 for the sample irradiated at 350 °C and of 0.041 for the previously investigated sample irradiated at 400 °C, significantly increasing with the irradiation temperature. These values are approximately one order of magnitude larger than the value of 0.003 previously found for the sample with 400 appm helium. The size distributions are compared with electron microscopy observations of these same samples. It appears that the occurrence of complex micro-structural changes in irradiated Eurofer97-1 steel should be taken in due account when considering its application under high He/dpa ratio values.

Effect of microstructure on 3He migration in TiT1.9 films

Two kinds of films were prepared to study the effect of microstructure on helium migration in Ti tritides. Both films showed different release behaviors and helium bubble distributions. In the film consisting of columnar grains, a two-layered structure was observed. Inclusions with a strip feature were found at the grain boundary, and no helium bubbles were distributed in these inclusions. However, helium preferred to migrate to the boundaries of these inclusions. Bubble linkage as a ribbon-like feature developed parallel to the film surface in the film consisting of columnar grains. More cracks were developed at the grain boundaries of the film consisting of columnar grains, although the helium content in the film consisting of columnar grains was less than that in the film consisting of equiaxed grains. A surface region with a small number of bubbles, or “depleted zone”, was observed near the surface. The cracks extending to the film surface were the pathways of the critical helium released from the film. The helium migration was strongly influenced by the grain microstructure.

Micro-tensile testing of reduced-activation ferritic steel F82H irradiated with Fe and He ions

Micro-tensile tests were conducted on reduced-activation ferritic steel F82H specimens after irradiation with Fe and He ions. The displacement damage levels were 50 and 200 dpa, and helium concentrations were 0, 2000 and 5000 appm. The specimens had dimensions of 8 × 1 × 1 µm for the gage section and they were tension tested at room temperature in a vacuum. The yield strengths of the unirradiated specimens were close to the literature value reported for a large, unirradiated specimen. The increases in yield strength and ultimate tensile strength due to Fe ion irradiation were clearly observed. The loss of work hardening was confirmed for the 200 dpa specimens (0 or 2000 appmHe). Higher yield strength and ultimate tensile strength were confirmed for the 50 dpa/5000 appmHe specimen compared to the no helium specimen (50 dpa/0 appmHe). However, no apparent helium effects were confirmed for the 200 dpa/2000 appmHe specimen by the micro-tensile test at room temperature.

Study of the Influence of Shielding Gases on Laser Metal Deposition of Inconel 718 Superalloy.

The use of the Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) technology as a manufacturing and repairing technique in industrial sectors like the die and mold and aerospace is increasing within the last decades. Research carried out in the field of LMD process situates argon as the most usual inert gas, followed by nitrogen. Some leading companies have started to use helium and argon as carrier and shielding gas, respectively. There is therefore a pressing need to know how the use of different gases may affect the LMD process due there being a lack of knowledge with regard to gas mixtures. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the influence of a mixture of argon and helium on the LMD process by analyzing single tracks of deposited material. For this purpose, special attention is paid to the melt pool temperature, as well as to the characterization of the deposited clads. The increment of helium concentration in the gases of the LMD processes based on argon will have three effects. The first one is a slight reduction of the height of the clads. Second, an increase of the temperature of the melt pool. Last, smaller wet angles are obtained for higher helium concentrations.

Evolution of thermodynamics in Pd-H(D) system by tritium aging

Experiments on investigating the thermodynamics properties of palladium hydride after aging as palladium tritide with different storage periods upto 6.5 years have been performed. By analyzing the experimental results, it is found that during the formation and the decomposition of palladium hydride the entropy changes maintain a linear relationship with the helium content in solid, whereas the enthalpy changes keep constant. The sum of interstitial sites in the host palladium matrix is expected to be affected by helium, resulting in the modification on the entropy changes.