Additive Manufacturing for Energy Applications III: Additive Manufacturing Applications in Nuclear
Sponsored by: TMS Structural Materials Division, TMS: Additive Manufacturing Committee, TMS: Nuclear Materials Committee
Program Organizers: Isabella Van Rooyen, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Indrajit Charit, University of Idaho; Subhashish Meher, Idaho National Laboratory; Michael Kirka, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Kumar Sridharan, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Xiaoyuan Lou, Purdue University
Tuesday 8:30 AM
March 16, 2021
Room: RM 1
Location: TMS2021 Virtual
Session Chair: Kumar Sridharan , University of Wisconsin
8:30 AM Invited
Tailored Radiation Responses of 9-12 wt.% Cr Steels Through Additive Manufacturing: Kevin Field1; T.M. Kelsy Green1; Weicheng Zhong2; Pengyuan Xiu1; Gabriella Bruno1; Niyanth Sridharan3; Lizhen Tan2; Maxim Gussev2; Ying Yang2; 1University of Michigan; 2Oak Ridge National Laboratory; 3Lincoln Electric
The radiation response of 9-12 wt.% Cr steels is directly tied to both the starting microstructure and the irradiation conditions. In this talk, I will discuss our recent efforts to develop frameworks for tailoring the radiation response of advanced 9-12 wt.% Cr steels by altering their microstructure(s) through additive manufacturing. A particular focus will be on steels manufactured using either powder-blown or wire-arc directed energy deposition techniques with an emphasis on composition modification to alter the steel’s sink strength(s) - either within the manufacturing feedstock or through intrinsic composition modification during deposition. The viability of using the proposed frameworks are validated by a set of targeted ion irradiations coupled with advanced characterization, which show suppression of key radiation responses such as cavity-induced swelling. The pitfalls of using additive manufacturing for 9-12 wt.% Cr steels will also be discussed, including controlling precipitation behavior and print-to-print variability under irradiation.
8:50 AM
Functional Advanced Printings for Nuclear In-pile Sensing: Kunal Mondal1; Michael McMurtrey1; 1Idaho National Laboratory
Additive printing technologies have faced noteworthy development driven by their ability to revolutionize academic and industrial manufacturing and research sectors. They also have many practical uses in the areas of micro and nanofabrication. Micro- and nano-printings have found tremendous applications in the area of material synthesis/patterning, electronics, medicine and biotechnology. Here, we assess the important additive micro and nano printing techniques, including materials jet printings as well as recently emerging techniques such as aerosol jet printing (APJ), and plasma jet printing (PJP) for in-pile sensors for nuclear applications. Printable ink materials, process control, advantages and challenges of printings have also been covered. There is a huge possibility for this advanced printing in some emerging non-conventional areas for sensing extreme environments.
9:10 AM
Cold Spray Stainless Steel Deposition to Mitigate CISCC in Canisters for Used Nuclear Fuel Storage: Nicholas Pocquette1; Hwasung Yeom1; Hemant Agiwal1; Kenneth Ross2; John Kessler3; Gary Cannell4; Frank Pfefferkorn1; Kumar Sridharan1; 1University of Wisconsin Madison; 2Pacific Northwest Research Laboratory; 3J Kessler and Associates LLC; 4Fluor Corporation
The cold spray materials deposition process is being investigated for mitigation of chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (CISCC) in Dry Cask Storage Systems (DCSS). DCSS are used for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. The welded austenitic stainless-steel canisters are under tensile stress and susceptible to environmental chloride corrosion which leads to the formation of CISCC after long term exposure. Cold spray is a low heat input, solid state coating process being considered as a mitigation approach for the initiation and growth of CISCC. The coatings are under compressive stresses and act as an environmental barrier against a Cl-rich environment. Thickness, microstructure, adhesion, hardness, and residual stress in the cold spray stainless steel coatings on stainless steel samples with prototypical CISCC produced by boiling MgCl2 tests will be presented. The results of this study along with gas permeability of the cold spray coatings will be discussed.
9:30 AM
A Review of Solution Based Processing Routes for Advanced Nuclear Fuel Materials: Elizabeth Zell1; Milo Gill2; Yazen Alfayez2; Edward Herderick2; Isabella Van Rooyen1; 1Idaho National Laboratory; 2The Ohio State University
Additive Manufacturing (AM) will transform nuclear reactor design concepts and revolutionize manufacturing by enabling multi-material complex shapes to be fabricated that could not be made otherwise. This work is focused on developing a novel Sol Gel Additive Manufacturing (SGAM) processing route for nuclear fuel form fabrication. The presentation will include a review of current work on additive manufacturing of nuclear fuel surrogates and placed in context of state-of-the-art sol gel processing of nuclear fuel. Then results of fuel surrogate and cladding printing using the SGAM technique will be presented including characterization of the printed materials and interfaces after thermal processing. A perspective on future cross-cutting applications of this approach and its potential for novel materials and process combinations will conclude the talk.
9:50 AM
Cold Spray Mitigation of Chloride-induced Stress Corrosion Cracking in Austenitic Stainless Steel Welds: Haozheng Qu1; Timothy Montoya2; Rebecca Schaller2; Eric Schindelholz3; Kyle Johnson4; Janelle Wharry1; 1Purdue University; 2Sandia National Laboratories; 3The Ohio State University; 4VRC Metal Systems
The objective of this presentation is to understand how cold spray affects the microstructure, residual stress, and chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (CISCC) susceptibility of stainless steel (SS) 304L welds. CISCC is a potential concern for welds of austenitic SS canisters used in spent nuclear fuel dry storage. Welding-induced tensile residual stresses are key factors influencing CISCC susceptibility, but cold spray deposition can counteract these residual stresses. In this study, four-point bent specimens of SS304L containing central arc welds were cold sprayed with SS304L particles. Sprayed and unsprayed specimens were CISCC tested in boiling MgCl2. Cold spraying prolonged crack initiation times by more than an order of magnitude. Crack initiation and residual stress were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and nanoindentation. Implications on CISCC and repair strategies will be discussed.SNL is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525. SAND2020-6713 A.
10:10 AM Invited
From Flight to Fission: Additive Manufacturing Advances at GE in Nuclear Energy: Vipul Gupta1; Andrew Hoffman1; Xiaoyuan Lou2; Raul Rebak1; 1GE Research; 2Auburn University
General Electric Company (GE) has been at the forefront of advancing additive manufacturing and developing commercial scale production of additive parts. At GE Research, collaborative efforts leverage this additive technology and apply it to key GE businesses beyond aviation including nuclear power reactor structural components. This includes research supported by the US Department of Energy to develop Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF). One of GE’s promising ATF fuel cladding concepts is Ironclad FeCrAl alloys. While these alloys show great promise in their corrosion resistance (especially in high temperature steam environments), coarse grained FeCrAl alloys are brittle and difficult to fabricate from wrought methods, and therefore powder metallurgy manufacturing approaches are significantly beneficial. We will discuss recent advancements made by GE Research in melt-pool modeling, in-situ process monitoring, federated data storage and analytics for additive manufacturing; and physics-informed data-driven additive manufacturing parameter development for near net shape FeCrAl fuel cladding end plugs.
10:30 AM
Laser Additive Manufacturing of Grade 91 Steel for Affordable Nuclear Reactor Components with Improved Radiation Tolerance: Stuart Maloy1; Calvin Lear1; Osman El-Atwani1; Peter Hosemann2; Jeff Bickel2; Thomas Lienert3; Tarasankar DebRoy4; Tuhin Mukherjee4; 1Los Alamos National Laboratory; 2University of California Berkeley; 3Optomec Inc.; 4Penn State University.
According to the Nuclear Energy R&D Roadmap Report, one the key challenges facing the nuclear energy industry involves development of innovative reactor designs to reduce capital costs which requires making improvements in the affordability of any new reactors and development of structural materials to withstand irradiation for longer periods. In this research we are developing a laser additive manufacturing (LAM) method and process model that provides in-situ tempering of a Grade 91 (Gr 91) steel, a radiation tolerant steel, during LAM. Initial work includes producing Grade 91 samples using Direct Energy Deposition additive manufacturing at Optomec Inc. and heat treating and characterizing tempered Grade 91 to develop and benchmark the process model being developed to predict the microstructures produced through additive manufacturing.
10:50 AM
Cold Spray Chromium Deposition for Accident Tolerant Fuel Cladding: Tyler Dabney1; Hwasung Yeom1; Kyle Quillin1; Nick Pocquette1; Yinbin Miao2; Kun Mo2; Laura Jamison2; Kumar Sridharan1; 1University of Wisconsin Madison; 2Argonne National Laboratory
Cold spray is a solid-state powder-based materials deposition technology that uses highly pressurized gas to deposit materials on substrates at ambient temperatures and pressures, and at very high deposition rates. Such low temperature solid state manufacturing processes provide notable benefits such as maintaining powder feedstock phase purity, and elimination of segregation and solidification shrinkage effects. In this study, the deposition of chromium coatings on zirconium-alloy light water reactor (LWR) fuel cladding, and ensuing properties and microstructure of the coatings have been investigated. The coatings have very good hydrothermal corrosion resistance as well as oxidation resistance in air and steam environments at temperatures in excess of 1100C, the prevailing environment under loss of coolant accident conditions. These results, along with measurements of residual stress state and micromechanical tests to understand the deformation behavior of cold spray Cr coatings, will be presented.
11:10 AM
Evaluation of Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) Steel Fuel Cladding Tubes Manufactured by Cold Spray Technology: Hwasung Yeom1; Vishnu Ramasawmy1; Mia Lenling1; Peter Hosemann2; David Hoelzer3; Stuart Maloy4; Kumar Sridharan1; 1University of Wisconsin Madison; 2University of California-Berkeley; 3Oak Ridge National Laboratory; 4Los Alamos National Laboratory
The cold spray technology has been used as a solid-state additive manufacturing approach to fabricate oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steel nuclear reactor fuel cladding tubes as an alternative of the conventional multi-step powder extrusion and annealing process. The research has involved parametric investigations of cold spray process including type of propellent gas, gas pre-heat temperature, powder size distribution and composition, as well as post-deposition thermal treatments to achieve high quality ODS steel material. Both SEM and TEM results showing the microstructure of the cold spray produced cladding tube, as well as radiation response and mechanical properties of these ODS steel tubes will be presented. Finally, results of solid-state cold spray deposition of corrosion and wear-resistant coatings on these ODS cladding tubes for the harsh environments of a nuclear reactor will be presented.
11:30 AM
Densification of Binder Jetted Tungsten through Chemical Vapor Infiltration for Fusion Energy Application: John Echols1; Amy Elliot1; Yutai Katoh1; Lauren Garrison1; 1Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The divertor of tokamak-style fusion reactors are typically tungsten and must remove extreme heat from the reactor core while not changing phase, degrading or activating significantly from high neutron doses, or sputtering into the plasma. Additive manufacturing (AM) has the potential to revolutionize divertor design by allowing the manufacture of novel geometries and bypassing difficulty in traditionally machining tungsten. In this work, we investigate densifying tungsten binder jetted (BJ) preforms through chemical vapor infiltration (CVI). After producing a sample with binder still in place, it was heated in a CVI chamber to remove the binder and achieve infiltration temperature. Gaseous WF6 and H2 were flowed over the sample, reacting to form W (which grows on the W surface) and HF (removed). Time, temperature, and gas flowrates were varied to optimize final sample density. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy was performed to investigate microstructure and texture.