| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
Materials Science & Technology 2020
|
| Symposium
|
Additive Manufacturing: Materials, Alloy Development, Microstructure and Properties
|
| Presentation Title |
Additive Manufacturing of Nuclear Spacer Grids |
| Author(s) |
Syed Zia Uddin, Qu He, Jack Beuth |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Syed Zia Uddin |
| Abstract Scope |
Nuclear spacer grids, an intricate consumable part of a nuclear fuel assembly, currently require lead time of more than two years from order placement to delivery using conventional fabrication methods. Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) type Additive Manufacturing (AM) process could reduce the lead time and cost significantly by printing out the structure in one major step. However, one of the main challenges in LPBF fabrication is the buckling type deformation of the tall thin walls that are abundant in the current spacer grid design. In this research, LPBF fabrication and finite element simulation of the simplified spacer grid structures with a wall thickness of 300μm and height of 47mm (~1.5inch) were performed. To eliminate the observed buckling deformation, different stiffening modifications were introduced to the thin walled cross section of the spacer grid structure. Findings in the current research would facilitate successful LPBF fabrication of tall thin wall structures. |