| Abstract Scope |
This project focuses on fabricating melt wire materials for monitoring nuclear reactor temperatures. We plan to further investigate iron-antimony, silver-copper, and silver-antimony alloys as candidates for melt wires that melt in the 700-900C temperature range. To develop the silver-copper melt wire, the 60 atomic % silver is melted at the eutectic point of 777C. The other compositions, iron-antimony and 9 atomic % antimony-silver, are expected to undergo incongruent melting at their respective peritectic points, 749C and 702.5C. They are fabricated using a magnetron sputtering system. Methods of analysis include ICP, DSC, SEM, and EDS. Initial investigations show promising and reproducible alloy fabrication. Future work involves the full creation and temperature testing of a silver-antimony melt wire. This work should provide beneficial expansion of the current library of commercially available melt wire materials. |