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Extreme environments are becoming more commonplace throughout advancing scientific fields. These extreme conditions may include high heat flux applications, elevated temperatures, stress, corrosive conditions, irradiation environments, or any combination. The high melting temperature and high thermal conductivity of graphite and carbon fiber carbon matrix composites make these materials some of the most resilient materials for extreme environments. These materials are being utilized in a range of extreme environments including advanced batteries, aeronautics and aerospace, and nuclear reactors. Nuclear environments are the most extreme any material can be subjected to and results in limited materials that can be readily used for these applications. Graphite was the first “nuclear structural material” and has been used continuously within R&D and nuclear power production since the 1940s. The current renaissance of advanced nuclear reactor concepts that rely on graphite for core structural support and neutron moderation/reflection has brough graphite for nuclear R&D back to life. TRISO fuel incorporates both pyrolytic carbon in the coating layers and matrix graphite to create the final fuel form. Newer types of carbon-based materials (carbon fiber carbon matrix composites , glassy carbon, pyrolytic carbon, carbon foam) are also becoming materials of interest for use in advanced nuclear reactor applications. There are also discussions about the use of carbon fiber and graphite materials for use in the extreme environment of fusion reactors. The research that is being performed for graphite and carbon-based materials in extreme environments spans a wide range of topics from material development, mechanical properties, high heat flux effects, irradiation effects on properties, irradiation creep, wear/erosion, gas and salt permeability, modeling, and issues related to graphite waste such as fission product removal and recycling.
This symposium aims to bring together scientist and engineers from around the world to share on-going research efforts and foster collaboration across institutions and countries. Any and allAll topics related to graphite and carbon-based materials for extreme environments are welcome, suggested topics include:
• Development of novel materials and processing methods
• Novel and in-situ testing of mechanical properties
• High heat flux effects
• Wear and erosion
• Permeability of coolants and methods to reduce permeation
• Modeling of extreme conditions and material response
• Nuclear specific topics:
o Irradiation effects on microstructure, mechanical properties, creep
o Transport of fission products during reactor operation
o Decontamination after use
o Tritium retention in fusion applications
o Erosion/sputtering in near fusion plasma
• Recycling and waste concepts
Abstracts focusing on SiC and SiC-SiC composites should be submitted to "Composite Materials for Nuclear Applications - IV". |