About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Materials and Chemistry for Molten Salt Systems
|
| Presentation Title |
Role of Bubbles as Permeation Barriers: Interfacial Hydrogen Transport in Molten Salt Breeding Blankets |
| Author(s) |
Abhishek Saraswat, Weiyue Zhou, Nayoung Kim, Jaron F. Cota, Guiqiu Zheng, Alexander A. Khechfe, Caroline S. Barthel, Michael P. Short, Rémi Delaporte-Mathurin, Kevin B. Woller |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Abhishek Saraswat |
| Abstract Scope |
The formation of macroscopic gas bubbles is observed for the first time through direct optical imaging of the Ni–FLiBe interface in the HYdrogen PERmeatION (HYPERION) facility at MIT. Experiments at 873 K and near-ambient hydrogen pressure reveal the continuous growth of hydrogen-containing bubbles during metal-side hydrogen charging, significantly reducing the effective interfacial area available for permeation. Repeated observations of bubble growth in HYPERION provide, in part, a plausible physical explanation for the historical scatter spanning orders of magnitude in reported hydrogen-isotope transport measurements in molten FLiBe, a primary candidate for fusion tritium breeding blankets. This interfacial process is observed to be less severe during salt-side charging, providing a possible route for experimentally quantifying “near-intrinsic” transport parameters using axial permeation setups. Together, these observations offer experimentally informed constraints for transport modeling tools aimed at improving predictions of tritium transport and assessments of tritium self-sufficiency in future fusion breeding blankets. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |