• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4159-4169
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• 2022

Hydrogen mitigation using Passive Autocatalytic Recombiners (PARs) has been widely accepted methodology inside reactor containment of accident struck Nuclear Power Plants. They reduce hydrogen concentration inside reactor containment by recombining it with oxygen from containment air on catalyst surfaces at ambient temperatures. Exothermic heat of reaction drives the product steam upwards, establishing natural convection around PAR, thus invoking homogenisation inside containment. CFD models resolving individual catalyst plate channels of PAR provide good insight about temperature and hydrogen recombination. But very thin catalyst plates compared to large dimensions of the enclosures involved result in intensive calculations. Hence, empirical correlations specific to PARs being modelled are often used in integral containment studies. In this work, an experimentally validated CFD model of PAR has been employed for developing an empirical correlation for Indian PAR. For this purpose, detailed parametric study involving different gas mixture variables at PAR inlet has been performed. For each case, respective values of gas mixture variables at recombiner outlet have been tabulated. The obtained data matrix has then been processed using regression analysis to obtain a set of correlations between inlet and outlet variables. The empirical correlation thus developed, can be easily plugged into commercially available CFD software.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2018

In the current research, the curing kinetics of a mixture system consisting of a Bisphenol-A type vinyl ester resin and styrene monomer was studied. Methylethylketone peroxide and cobalt octoate were used as the polymerization initiator and accelerator respectively. Thermograms with several different heating rates were obtained using non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry. Activation energy values analyzed by the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa isoconversional method showed a three-step change with conversion ${\alpha}$: a slight decrease initially for ${\alpha}$ < 0.1, a constant value of 47.9 kJ/mol in the range 0.1 < ${\alpha}$ < 0.7, and a slow increase for 0.7 < ${\alpha}$. When assuming a constant activation energy of 47.9 kJ/mol, an autocatalytic model of the Sestak-Berggren equation was considered as the proper mathematical model of the conversion function, indicating an overall order of 1.2.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1199-1203
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• 1997

The investigation of cure kinetics of biphenyl epoxy (4,4-diglycidyloxy-3,3,5,5-tetramethyl biphenyl)-xylok resin system with four different catalysts was performed by differential scanning calorimeter using an isothermal approach. All kinetic parameters of the curing reaction including the reaction order, activation energy and rate constant were calculated and reported. The results indicate that the curing reaction of the formulations using triphenylphosphine (TPP) and 1-benzyl-2-methylimidazole (1B2MI) as a catalyst proceeds through a first order kinetic mechanism, whereas that of the formulations using diazabicyloundecene (DBU) and tetraphenyl phosphonium tetraphenyl borate (TPP-TPB) proceeds by an autocatalytic kinetic mechanism. To describe the cure reaction in the latter stage, we have used the semiempirical relationship proposed by Chern and Poehlein. By combining an nth order kinetic model or an autocatalytic model with a diffusion factor, it is possible to predict the cure kinetics of each catalytic system over the whole range of conversion.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.9
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• pp.3194-3201
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• 2023

In water-cooled power reactor, hydrogen is generated in case of steam zirconium reaction during severe accident condition and later on in addition to hydrogen; CO is also generated during molten corium concrete interaction after reactor pressure vessel failure. Passive Autocatalytic Recombiners (PARs) are provided in the containment for hydrogen management. The performance of the PARs in presence of hydrogen and carbon monoxide along with air has been evaluated. Depending on the conditions, CO may either react with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2) or act as catalyst poison, reducing the catalyst activity and hence the hydrogen conversion efficiency. CFD analysis has been carried out to determine the effect of CO on catalyst plate temperature for 2 & 4% v/v H₂ and 1-4% v/v CO with air at the recombiner inlet for a reported experiment. The results of CFD simulations have been compared with the reported experimental data for the model validation. The reaction at the recombiner plate is modelled based on diffusion theory. The developed CFD model has been used to predict the maximum catalyst temperature and outlet species concentration for different inlet velocity and temperatures of the mixture gas. The obtained results were used to fit a correlation for obtaining removal rate of carbon monoxide inside PAR as a function of inlet velocity and concentrations.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.33-36
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• 2006

The kinetics of photopolymerization of urethane-acrylate oligomer which has many applications in photopolymerizable adhesives was analysed to investigate the influence of polymerization temperature and functionality of oligomer using the autocatalytic model. It was revealed that the maximum polymerization rate decreased as the polymerization temperature increased. The reaction rate constant, k, showed little change with the increase in polymerization temperature, while exponents m and n exhibited an increase. These results could be related to the diffusion and mobility restriction of reactive species during the cross-linking reaction. The decrease in photopolymerization rate with increase of temperature was mainly controlled by the reaction order n.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.837-844
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• 2000

The cure behavior of commercial epoxy molding compounds (EMC) commonly used for IC package was studied at constant cure temperatures as well as at constant heating rates using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), rheometer, and dielectric analyzer (DEA). The cure kinetics were obtained using autocatalytic reaction model according to the Ryan Dutta method after assuming m+n equal to 2. The prediction of reaction rates by the model equation corresponded well to experimental data at all temperatures except for 10$0^{\circ}C$. The phase transitions such as gelation and vitrification occurred during network formation. At each isothermal cure temperature, $T_{g}$ was measured in accordance with cure time, and the vitrification point was attained when $T_{g}$ was equal to $T_{cure}$. The temperature dependence of gel points and vitrification points showed good agreement with Arrhenius relation. DEA using parallel plate electrode was effective for the monitoring of EMC cure. we knew that if the resin systems are materials of comparable quality, $_{gel}$$T_{g}$ is constant regardless of accelerator concentration in TTT (Time-Temperature-Transformation) diagram.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.240-248
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• 2013

The curing behaviors of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) with mercaptan hardener were studied by the comparison with amine-adduct type hardener. Curing behaviors were evaluated by DSC at dynamic and isothermal conditions. In the DSC, the dynamic experiments were based on the method of Kissinger's equation, and the isothermal experiments were fitted to the Kamal's kinetic model. Activation energy of epoxy/amine-adduct type hardener was ca. 40 kcal/mol. As the functional group of mercaptan hardener, -SH increased, on epoxy/mercaptan hardeners, the activation energies decreased from 28 to 19 kcal/mol. Epoxy/amine-adduct type hardener was initiated at $90^{\circ}C$ or higher. However, epoxy/mercaptan hardeners reduced the initiation temperatures below $80^{\circ}C$ and shortened the durations of curing reaction within 10 min. We found out that the reaction kinetics of epoxy with mercaptan hardener followed the autocatalytic reaction models, and the maximum reaction rates were shown at the conversions of 20~40%.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.196-202
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• 2011

The cure kinetics of a bisphenol A epoxy resin and polyoxypropylene diamine curing agent system are investigated in both dynamic and isothermal conditions by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In dynamic experiments, the shift of exothermic peaks obtained at different heating rates is used to obtain activation energy of overall cure reaction based on the methods of Ozawa and Kissinger. Isothermal DSC data at different temperatures are fitted to an autocatalytic Kamal kinetic model. The kinetic model is in a good agreement with the experimental data in the initial stage of cure. A diffusion effect is incorporated to describe the later stage of cure, predicting the cure kinetics over the whole range of curing process. Also, dynamic mechanical analysis is performed to evaluate the storage modulus and average molecular weight between crosslinkages.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.93-98
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• 2022

Adiabatic blanking is a method to improve productivity through an autocatalytic cycle that occurs repeatedly through plastic deformation and thermal softening caused by impact energy. In this study, an axisymmetric analysis model comprising a punch, die, holder, and specimen was developed to confirm the temperature and deformation characteristics caused by an impact load. Through this, the impact energy, diameter of the punch, gap between the punch and die, and the effect of the fillet were analyzed. Because this process occurs in a very short time, adiabatic analysis can be performed using the explicit time-integration method. The analysis, confirmed that it is necessary to design a structure capable of increasing the local temperature and plastic deformation by controlling the impact energy, working area, gap, and the fillet.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.4382-4394
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• 2023

Passive auto-catalytic recombiners (PARs) are widely used to mitigate a hydrogen hazard. The first step to evaluate the hydrogen safety by PARs is to obtain qualified test data of the PARs for validation of their analytical model. SPARC PAR tests SP8 and SP9 were conducted to evaluate the hydrogen recombination characteristics of a honeycomb-shaped catalyst PAR. To obtain the hydrogen recombination rate from the PAR test data, two methods, Method-1 and Method-2, introduced by the THAI project, were applied. Since a large gradient of hydrogen concentration developed during hydrogen injection can cause a large error in the hydrogen mass obtained by integrating the measured hydrogen concentrations, a gate was installed at the PAR inlet to homogenize hydrogen in the test vessel before the PAR operation in the tests. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code with a PAR model was also applied to evaluate the characteristics of the PAR recombination according to the PAR inlet conditions, and the results were compared with those from Method-1 and Method-2. It was confirmed that the recombination rates from Method-1 require a correction factor to be compatible with results from Method-2 and the CFD simulation in the case of the SPARC-PAR tests.