• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.847-858
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• 2013

Since 2001, a series of five irradiation test campaigns for atomized U-Mo dispersion fuel rods, KOMO-1, -2, -3, -4, and -5, has been conducted at HANARO (Korea) in order to develop high performance low enriched uranium dispersion fuel for research reactors. The KOMO irradiation tests provided valuable information on the irradiation behavior of U-Mo fuel that results from the distinct fuel design and irradiation conditions of the rod fuel for HANARO. Full size U-Mo dispersion fuel rods of 4-5 $g-U/cm^3$ were irradiated at a maximum linear power of approximately 105 kW/m up to 85% of the initial U-235 depletion burnup without breakaway swelling or fuel cladding failure. Electron probe microanalyses of the irradiated samples showed localized distribution of the silicon that was added in the matrix during fuel fabrication and confirmed its beneficial effect on interaction layer growth during irradiation. The modifications of U-Mo fuel particles by the addition of a ternary alloying element (Ti or Zr), additional protective coatings (silicide or nitride), and the use of larger fuel particles resulted in significantly reduced interaction layers between fuel particles and Al.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.169-182
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• 2014

High-performance research reactors require fuel that operates at high specific power to high fission density, but at relatively low temperatures. Research reactor fuels are designed for efficient heat rejection, and are composed of assemblies of thin-plates clad in aluminum alloy. The development of low-enriched fuels to replace high-enriched fuels for these reactors requires a substantially increased uranium density in the fuel to offset the decrease in enrichment. Very few fuel phases have been identified that have the required combination of very-high uranium density and stable fuel behavior at high burnup. U-Mo alloys represent the best known tradeoff in these properties. Testing of aluminum matrix U-Mo aluminum matrix dispersion fuel revealed a pattern of breakaway swelling behavior at intermediate burnup, related to the formation of a molybdenum stabilized high aluminum intermetallic phase that forms during irradiation. In the case of monolithic fuel, this issue was addressed by eliminating, as much as possible, the interfacial area between U-Mo and aluminum. Based on scoping irradiation test data, a fuel plate system composed of solid U-10Mo fuel meat, a zirconium diffusion barrier, and Al6061 cladding was selected for development. Developmental testing of this fuel system indicates that it meets core criteria for fuel qualification, including stable and predictable swelling behavior, mechanical integrity to high burnup, and geometric stability. In addition, the fuel exhibits robust behavior during power-cooling mismatch events under irradiation at high power.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.883-884
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.587-588
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• 2006

The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility of Alloy 600 MA, Alloy 600 TT, Alloy 800, and Alloy 690 TT were investigated in a deaerated 0.01 M solution of sodium tetrathionate using reverse u-bend test samples at $340^{\circ}C$. The results showed that SCC occurred in all alloys, excluding Alloy 690 TT. The SCC susceptibility decreased with an increase in the chromium content of the alloys. The results of the deposits and spectra taken from an energy dispersive X-ray system confirmed the existence of a reduced sulfur causing SCC.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1855-1862
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• 2023

Graphite crucibles are used for melting uranium and its alloys in VIM furnace. Various coating materials namely Al₂O₃, ZrO₂, MgO etc. are applied on the inner surface of the crucibles using paint brush or thermal spray technique to mitigate U-C interaction. These leads to significant amount of carbon pick-up in uranium. In this study, the attempts are made to develop multilayer coatings comprising of SiC/Y₂O₃ and Mo/Y₂O₃ on graphite to study the feasibility of minimizing U-C interaction. The parameters are optimized to prepare SiC coating of about 70㎛ thickness using CVD technique on graphite coupons and subsequently Y₂O₃ coating of about 250㎛ thickness using plasma spray technique. Molybdenum and Y₂O₃ layers were deposited using plasma spray technique with 70㎛ and 250㎛ thickness, respectively. Interaction studies of the coated graphite with molten uranium at 1450℃ for 20 min revealed that Y₂O₃ coating with SiC interlayer provides physical barrier for uranium-graphite interaction, however, this led to the physical separation of coating layer. Y₂O₃ coating with Mo interlayer provided superior barrier effect showing no degradation and the coatings remained intact after interaction tests. Therefore, the Mo/Y₂O₃ coating was found to be a promising solution for minimizing carbon pick-up during uranium/uranium alloy melting.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.12-16
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• 1991

The effect of annealing on the magnetic properties and the microstructures of the amorphous $Fe_{76-x}Cu_1Mo_xSi_{14}B_9$(x=2,3) alloys were investigated. When annealed at 500${^{\circ}C}$ for 1hr, $8{\sim}9{\times}10^3$ of the effective permeability and 3~4 A/m of the coercive force were achieved upon crystallization to $\alpha$-Fe phase. And the average diameter of the $\alpha$-Fe grains was about 20nm. For the nanovrystalline ferromagnets. the fine grain size is the important requirement to obtain a good soft magnetic property. In this work, in order to get the finer grain size of $\alpha$-Fe phase, two-step annealing treatment was given. That is, following the low-temperature at $400{^{\circ}C}$ for 1~3hr, the high-temperature annealing at $500{^{\circ}C}$ for 1hr was carried out. As the low-temperature annealing time increased, the effective permeability increased to $1.2{\sim}1.7{\times}10^4$ and the coercive force decreased to about 2 A/m. And the grain size was observed to be smaller than 10nm. The increased permeability and the decreased coercive force were attributed to the reduced average crystalline anisotropy by the refinement of $\alpha$-Fe(Si) grains.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.218-223
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• 1997

At the aim of finding a Fehased amorphous alloy with a wide supercooled liquid region (${\Delta}T_{x}=T_{x}-T_{g}$) before crystallization, the changes in glass transition temperatudfI$T_{g}$ and crystallization temperature ($T_{x}$) by the dissolution of additional M elements were examined for the $Fe_{80}P_{10}C_{6}B_{4}$(x~6at%. M= transition metals) amorphous alloys. The ${\Delta}T_{x}$ value is 27K for the Fe,,,P,,,C,,R, alloy and increases to 40K for the addition of M=4at%Hf, 4at%Ta or 4at%Mo. The increase in ${\Delta}T_{x}$ is due to the increase of $T_{x}$ exceeding the degree in the increase in $T_{g}$. The $T_{g}$ and $T_{x}$ increase with decreasing electron concentration (e/a) from about 7 38 to 7.05. The decrease of e/a also implies the increase in the attractive bonding state between the M elements and other constitutent elements. It is therefore said that $T_{g}$ and $T_{x}$ increase kith increasing attractive bonding force.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.23-40
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• 1990

This study has been carried out to investigate into some effects of Mn content with varying amounts and austenite grain size on hardenability in boron-added Fe-C-Cr-Mo alloy systems. (1) Austenite grains have been found to hardly grow in the temperature range of $900^{\circ}C$ to $950^{\circ}C$, whereas they grow rapidly in the temperature range of $975^{\circ}C$ to $1100^{\circ}C$. (2) Austenite grain growth is considerably small with increasing holding time at a given austenitizing temperature and is, in particular, hardly found to occur at a temperature of $900^{\circ}C$. (3) The hardenability improves ramarkably as Mn content is increased at three different austenitizing temperatures $900^{\circ}C$, $1000^{\circ}C$ and $1100^{\circ}C$. (4) The maximum hardenability is obtained from steels A, B and C austenitized at the $900^{\circ}C$, although Mn content is varied in each specimen.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.1-1
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• 2000

The results of the modification of metal materials treated by high temperature pulst:d plasma fluxes (HTlPPF) with a specific power of incident flux changing in the $(3...100)10^5{]\;}W/cm^2$ range and a pulse duration lying from 15 to $50{\;}\mu\textrm{s}$ have been presented. The results of HTPPF action were studied on the stainless steels of 18Cr-l0Ni, 16Cr- 15Ni, 13Cr-2Mo types; on the structural carbon steels of (13...35)Cr, St. 3, St. 20, St. 45 types; on the tool steels of U8, 65G, ShHI5 types, and others; on nickel and high nickel alloy of 20Cr-45Ni type; on zirconium- and vanadium-base alloys and other materials. The microstructure and properties (mechanical, tribological, erosion, and other properties) of modified materials and surface alloying of metals exposed to HTPPF action have been investigated. It was found that the modification of materials by HTPPF resulted in a simultaneous increase of several properties of the treated articles: microhardness of the surface and layers of 40...60 $\mu\textrm{m}$ in depth, tribological characteristics (friction coefficient, wear resistance), mechanical properties ({\sigma_y}, {\;}{\sigma_{0.2}}.{\;}{\sigma_r}) on retention of the initial plasticity ($\delta$), corrosion resistance, radistanation erosion under ion irradiation, and others. The determining factor of the changes observed is the structural-phase modification of the near-surface layers, in particular, the formation of the fine cellular structure in the near-surface layers at a depth of $20{\;}{\mu\textrm{m}}$ with dimension of cells changing in the range from 0.1 to $1., 5{\;}\mu\textrm{m}$, depending on the kind of material, its preliminary treatment, and the parameters of plasma fluxes. The remits obtained have shown the possibility of purposeful surface alloying of metals exposed to HTPPF action over a depth up to 20...45 $\mu\textrm{m}$ and the concentration of alloying element (Ni, Cr, V) up to 20 wt.%. Possible industrial brunches for using the treatment have been also considered, as well as some results on modifying the serial industrial articles by HTPPF.